Musk wins appeal and restores 2018 Tesla pay deal worth $56 billion

Reuters ^ | December 19, 20253:41 PM CST | Tom Hals

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Summary

On December 19, 2025, the Delaware Supreme Court overturned a lower court's 2024 decision and restored Elon Musk's 2018 Tesla compensation package, originally valued at $56 billion (later ballooning to around $120 billion due to stock price growth).

• The package grants Musk options for 304 million shares (9% of Tesla's stock) at a discounted price, tied to ambitious performance milestones that Tesla achieved, transforming it into one of the world's most valuable companies.

• A lower court (Judge Kathaleen McCormick) had rescinded it in 2024, ruling the board was conflicted and shareholders lacked key information during the initial approval vote.

• The Supreme Court's reversal ends the long-running lawsuit filed by shareholder Richard Tornetta (who owned just 9 shares).

• The original ruling sparked backlash from Musk, who criticized Delaware courts and encouraged companies to reincorporate elsewhere; Tesla moved to Texas, followed by a few others (e.g., Dropbox, Roblox, Coinbase), though Delaware remains dominant for U.S. public companies.

• Tesla's board has emphasized Musk's need for adequate pay and voting power to stay committed, given his roles at SpaceX and xAI.

• In November 2025, shareholders approved a new, even larger package potentially worth $878 billion, linked to goals in self-driving tech, robotaxis, and humanoid robots.

• Tesla, now Texas-incorporated, has implemented rules making shareholder lawsuits much harder (requiring 3% ownership, worth ~$30 billion—effectively only possible for Musk).

[FreedomPoster]

Lefties suicidal.

[ridesthemiles]

THEY JUST CAN NEVER TOLERATE SUCCESS, CAN THEY?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The Supreme Court's reversal ends the long-running lawsuit filed by shareholder Richard Tornetta (who owned just 9 shares).

Criminal.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Tesla is closing in on $500/share. If Optimus takes off the way I expect it will, Tesla is still undervalued.

[Dr. Sivana]

Optimus is okay, but I'd rather have a Nakamichi or Marantz.

[The Louiswu]

TO THE MOON ELON!!!

[PIF]

He’ll get to Mars way before he gets to the Moon. Everything SpaceX does with Starship is aimed at going to Mars. The Moon is just a side gig where it will bring supplies to an already established colony at the Lunar South Pole - assuming the Chinese do not claim it first.

[T Ruth]

Funny: Commissar McCormick wrecked Delaware's corporate business reputation, and now that it's too late to restore it, her rulings have been overturned. Ha, ha.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

Even though token damages of only $1 were awarded, Plaintiff's attorneys are still going to get a fat payday, but probably not as fat as the $345 million they were first awarded.

[Strident]

I see this as the Delaware Supremes being tasked to try to save the DE Court of Chancery from descending into politicized agenda-driven jurisprudence. DE it is the only state with a corporate-law-only court exclusively dedicated to corporate law cases. its vast body of settled and published legal decisions is an gigantic advantage to companies seeking a stable and rational legal home base. Judgette Kathleen tossed that all away to score points with the ruling classes. Time will tell if Chancery Court will ever regain its reputation and stature.

[voicereason]

Optimus is okay, but I'd rather have a Nakamichi...

Heck yeah! I had a Nakamichi Dragon when I was stationed in Japan. Awesome cassette deck.

[Hartlyboy]

Chancery Court in Delaware covers more than just corporate law. They also give rulings in land disputes, sometimes as hard to understand or believe as what this judge did to Musk. Unfortunately when an individual feels they’ve been screwed over they need big bucks to take it to the Supreme Court level and just have to accept even what they believe to be a deeply flawed decision by one of the Court “Masters”.

[roadcat]

Tesla is closing in on $500/share. If Optimus takes off the way I expect it will, Tesla is still undervalued.

Better yet, Musk announced that Tesla shareholders will be in front of the line for receiving SpaceX stock when the IPO happens. Lots of Tesla engineering support helped SpaceX grow, so shareholders will benefit. I think more so than from Optimus.

[Dr. Sivana]

I had a Nakamichi Dragon when I was stationed in Japan. Awesome cassette deck.

Was that the $900 deck with robotic auto-reverse?

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Better yet, Musk announced that Tesla shareholders will be in front of the line for receiving SpaceX stock when the IPO happens.

No kidding? Is there a minimum amount of time the Tesla stock must be held, or a minimum amount of Tesla stock to own? Will there be a 1:1 mapping between the amount of Tesla stock we own and how much SpaceX stock we're allowed to buy at pre-IPO prices?

[voicereason]

Was that the $900 deck with robotic auto-reverse?

Yes. The cassette holder would pop out, and then flip the cassette 180 degrees. They did it so that the tape heads stayed in locked position.

I was also running an Onkyo 500w amp/preamp with Klipsch Chorus speakers, along with some pieces. It sounded great.

[roadcat]

I do not know. Other than Elon Musk confirmed that he will reward Tesla shareholders for the SpaceX IPO. He needs the IPO to raise funding for building Space AI data centers along with StarLink satellite deployment on the StarShip.

I have held Tesla stock for over 5 years, and hope to gain from this IPO. I am as interested as you when it comes to details. I heard a rumor that SpaceX is valued at half the value of Tesla, so maybe a 1:2 where 2 shares of Tesla will get 1 share of SpaceX?

[Dr. Sivana]

Fantastic setup! All you need is a Revox open reel, and some turntable and cartridge I never heard of.

[voicereason]

I remember having an equalizer with pink noise and a compressor/expander. The nice thing with being in Japan is there were plenty of options, well before they ever hit the U.S. market and at better prices.

[Dr. Sivana]

I remember that the Nintendo game player was available in Japan for years before it was in the U.S. Nintendo wisely waited for the Colecovision/Atari 5200 crash to happen before flooding the market by introducing another major game player. The Japanese version was also smaller, as it was thought the U.S. market wanted a larger product to add perceived value.