The car manufacturer Tesla granted Elon Musk 96 million Tesla shares for a value of around 29 billion dollars, while the huge remuneration plan for the boss of Tesla is still the subject of a legal battle. Elon Musk obtained authorization to buy 96 million Tesla shares at a price of $ 23.34, that is to say their exercise price when Tesla’s boss’s remuneration plan for the adoption, said the manufacturer in a document filed with the US stock regulator on Monday.
At the end of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, the action ended at $ 302.6, which values this “temporary” remuneration at some $ 29 billion. The remuneration of Elon Musk has been the subject of a legal battle for years. A plan, validated in 2018 in an extraordinary assembly by Tesla, planned to give Elon Musk of Tesla actions according to the achievement of several objectives over ten years. This plan was estimated during its adoption at some $ 56 billion.
But a Delaware judge, seized by a shareholder, canceled it in January 2024. The latter indeed considered that the shareholders had received “erroneous” and “deceptive” information about the board of directors and the remuneration committee, upstream of the general meeting during which the plan had been approved. The soap opera then continued. Mid-June 2024, the Mega remuneration plan was again validated by the shareholders of Tesla. Before being rejected again by the justice of Delaware in December last year.
Legal vacuum
Tesla, who appealed the decision, has since set up a special committee responsible for studying the question. “Elon Musk’s remuneration continues to be in a legal vacuum despite two distinct votes from shareholders who largely supported it,” said the company on X on Monday. “In addition, we do not have a clear calendar for resolution, because we still expect not only a decision, but also a hearing date before the Supreme Court of Delaware,” she deplored. However, “retaining Elon is more important than ever before”, specifies the manufacturer, who therefore intends to “take measures to honor the agreement concluded in 2018”.
Long head of electric cars, Tesla has been experiencing difficulties for several months. At the end of July, he announced a drop of 16% in net profit in the second quarter, assigned by a decline in vehicle sales, in a context of increased competition. The involvement of his boss Elon Musk in the political sphere, with the Trump administration – before detaching it – also weighed on sales.
Tesla must also negotiate a crucial turn linked to autonomous driving and artificial intelligence (AI). Elon Musk assured that once the autonomy “deployed on a large scale in the second half” 2026, the situation would improve. “Musk remains Tesla’s main advantage and this remuneration problem has been a constant concern for shareholders since the start of the Delaware soap opera,” said Wedbush Securities analysts. At the opening of the New York Stock Exchange, the Tesla title gained 1.3% at $ 306.5 around 1:31 p.m. (3:31 p.m. Swiss time).
