Elon Musk Says $50 Billion Tesla Pay Package Is JUSTIFIED!

Tesla Inc.’s decision to give CEO Elon Musk a pay package that could be worth more than $50 billion wasn’t excessive. Find out why.

Know about Tesla Inc.’s CEO Elon Musk pay package here. (REUTERS)

Tesla Inc.'s decision to give Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk a pay package that could be worth more than $50 billion wasn't excessive given the electric-car maker's stratospheric rise in value over the last decade, his lawyers said in a court filing.

Musk, the world's richest person, must face a Delaware judge at a trial Nov. 14 to counter accusations he steamrolled Tesla directors in 2018 to award him what may turn out to be one of the corporate world's biggest pay deals ever.

Tesla investor Richard Tornetta argues directors let the billionaire entrepreneur craft his own compensation plan because of conflicts-of-interest that left them beholden to Musk, the company's biggest shareholder. Board members also allegedly hid key information about the process from shareholders before investors approved the pay deal as part of a proxy vote.

The package included more than 100 million Tesla stock options to be doled out over 12 periods, but only if the car company hit certain performance goals, according to court filings. The company crushed those metrics, and Tesla's market capitalization jumped from $53 billion to more than $690 billion over four years, Musk's lawyers said Tuesday in a pre-trial brief.

“The plan designed and approved by the board was not a typical pay package intended to compensate the ordinary executive for overseeing the day-to-day operations of a mature company,” his attorneys said. “That is because Musk is not the typical CEO.”

Tornetta's pre-trial brief was filed under seal and his lawyers declined to comment Wednesday on Musk's arguments.

Same Judge

The five-day trial will be before Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St.J. McCormick, the same judge who was overseeing Musk's separate legal fight over his $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc. He had sought to walk away from that deal, but has since said he would complete the acquisition.

According to Musk's lawyers, he has sets himself apart from a traditional CEO as Tesla's business grew from a risky startup to one of the world's most valuable corporations.

“Musk is intimately involved in all aspects of Tesla's operations, from its strategic direction to its product design,” according to the filing. “He's been instrumental in transforming Tesla from a high-end electric sports car manufacturer to far more than just a car company.”

Musk's ability to juggle multiple responsibilities among his companies hasn't harmed Tesla's individual performance, his attorneys said. Besides Tesla, Musk's companies include Space X, which launches rockets and communications systems, and the Boring Co., a tunneling operation. He's also co-founder of Neuralink, which seeks to develop implants to connect human brains to computers.

Because of Musk, Tornetta's Tesla holdings have grown by more than 1,000% since 2018, the CEO's lawyers said. “Trial will establish plaintiff's claims -- based entirely on hindsight bias -- are unsupported,” the filing said.