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Judge confirms decision to sink Elon Musk’s $56B pay package despite Tesla shareholder vote
TechCrunch ^ | December 2, 2024 | Sean O'Kane

Posted on 12/02/2024 5:12:19 PM PST by deks

Delaware Chancery court judge Kathaleen McCormick has denied Tesla’s request to revise her decision to strike down CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package — despite shareholders voting at the company’s annual meeting this year to “re-ratify” the deal.

McCormick also awarded the plaintiff’s attorneys a $345 million fee — payable in cash or Tesla shares — that is eye-popping but still a fraction of the $5.6 billion those lawyers requested earlier this year.

Tesla awarded the compensation package to Musk in 2018, at a time when the electric automaker was in crisis. It laid out a series of stock price milestones that Tesla would have to hit in order for Musk to unlock the full value of the package — milestones the company easily cleared in the following years as Tesla ramped up its Model 3 and Model Y programs.

(Excerpt) Read more at techcrunch.com ...


TOPICS: Government; US: Delaware
KEYWORDS: chancerycourt; elonmusk; kathaleenmccormick; tesla
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Delaware activist judge Kathaleen McCormick declines to reinstate Elon Musk's Tesla compensation package, once again overruling the company’s board and more than 72% of its shareholders.

Instead, she ordered Tesla shareholders to pay $345 million in legal fees to attorneys representing the plaintiff, who owned just nine shares of the company.

Judge McCormick previously ruled against @elonmusk during his acquisition of Twitter.

Before becoming the head of the Delaware Chancery Court, McCormick worked at the Delaware law firm Young Conaway. For decades, this firm and its employees have been large donors to President Joe Biden.

In 2016, Hunter Biden hosted a gubernatorial campaign event for Congressman John Carney at the offices of Young Conaway in Wilmington, Delaware.

Then-Vice President Joe Biden attended as the guest speaker. Carney, a close friend of Joe Biden for over 40 years, later became governor and nominated Kathaleen McCormick, then a partner at Young Conaway, to her current position on the Delaware Chancery Court.

In a March 2018 email, Hunter Biden claimed he had personal connections to every judge on the Delaware Chancery Court.

He wrote, "I will bring the suit in the Chancery court in Delaware - which as you know is my home state and I am privileged to have worked with and know every judge on the chancery court."

After Elon Musk purchased Twitter with the stated goal of promoting free speech, President Biden publicly called for a federal investigation into Musk.

Subsequently, the Biden administration’s Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, and Federal Trade Commission launched investigations and legal actions targeting Tesla, SpaceX, and X.

This latest decision by Judge McCormick, who has ties to Biden’s top donors and was nominated to the court by a close Biden ally, is another example of the Biden administration and its "Democratic" allies using the legal system to target political opponents.

https://x.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/1863719111265751137

1 posted on 12/02/2024 5:12:19 PM PST by deks
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To: deks

I thought Musk had reincorporated in Texas to avoid this?


2 posted on 12/02/2024 5:13:19 PM PST by TexasFreeper2009
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To: TexasFreeper2009

He reincorporated in Texas after this lawsuit


3 posted on 12/02/2024 5:14:48 PM PST by deks (Deo duce, ferro comitante · God for guide, sword for companion)
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To: deks

Another commie lib, American hating “judge.”


4 posted on 12/02/2024 5:16:30 PM PST by FlingWingFlyer (Okay Kamala! Where the hell is the "billion and a half" bucks?)
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To: deks

What gives her the slightest authority to override the stockholders and the board of directors on a compensation package?

Chick law, strikes again. He will appeal.


5 posted on 12/02/2024 5:17:55 PM PST by DesertRhino (2016 Star Wars, 2020 The Empire Strikes Back, 2024... RETURN OF THE JEDI..)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

I assume he can appeal all the way to the SC, if necessary.


6 posted on 12/02/2024 5:26:37 PM PST by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing))
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To: Flaming Conservative
I assume he can appeal all the way to the SC, if necessary.

He can, but there is no way his attorneys can argue with a straight face that allowing the CEO to essentially skim ~$57 billion right off the top is in the best interest of the shareholders at large. Corporations exist to protect the investors e.g. shareholders, not to facilitate a piggy bank for the guy(s) at the top, even if the board is in the tank for you, as was found during discovery, and being a corporation means you agree to abide by corporate law.
7 posted on 12/02/2024 5:37:20 PM PST by SpaceBar
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To: deks

Is there anything President Trump can do to investigate the Delaware Chancery Court? I know it’s a state issue, but surely President Trump could have a federal investigation of some sort against them.


8 posted on 12/02/2024 5:39:07 PM PST by roadcat ( )
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To: Flaming Conservative
I assume he can appeal all the way to the SC, if necessary.

Agreed. But even if Musk gets all his legal fees compensated, the Dims are still making it clear to everyone else that it's costly to veer of the plantation like Musk did.

9 posted on 12/02/2024 5:39:10 PM PST by Tell It Right (1 Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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*
the Judge...


10 posted on 12/02/2024 5:41:38 PM PST by deks (Deo duce, ferro comitante · God for guide, sword for companion)
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To: SpaceBar

I did not realize you were a shareholder.


11 posted on 12/02/2024 5:57:03 PM PST by citizen (Political incrementalism is like compound interest for liberals - every little bit adds up.)
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To: citizen
Sorry...are a shareholder.
12 posted on 12/02/2024 5:59:05 PM PST by citizen (Political incrementalism is like compound interest for liberals - every little bit adds up.)
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To: SpaceBar
SpaceBar said
"...allowing the CEO to essentially skim ~$57 billion right off the top. Corporations exist to protect the investors e.g. shareholders"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You may think that CEO Musk sat back and did nothing to benefit the shareholders after creating Tesla. Whereas, in 2018 the requirements of the compensation deal were established (see in article above)...

"Tesla awarded the compensation package to Musk in 2018, at a time when the electric automaker was in crisis. It laid out a series of stock price milestones that Tesla would have to hit in order for Musk to unlock the full value of the package — milestones the company easily cleared in the following years..."

TESLA STOCK VALUE around $20 in 2018 --- now $357 in 2024

So no benefit to the stockholders... /off sarcasm


13 posted on 12/02/2024 6:17:41 PM PST by deks (Deo duce, ferro comitante · God for guide, sword for companion)
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To: deks

Nothing to see here. Move along, citizens.


14 posted on 12/02/2024 6:23:35 PM PST by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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To: roadcat

Investigating the Chancery Court won’t get you much. Some of us in Delaware who have been impacted by their rulings know it’s one part law, one part judge and appeals are just a repetition of the first ruling,-as you saw in the Musk case.


15 posted on 12/02/2024 6:23:42 PM PST by Hartlyboy
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To: deks

That left a mark

Even in Space duuuude!


16 posted on 12/02/2024 6:27:24 PM PST by wardaddy (If the GOPe didn’t go wobbly slightest incoming flak we’d always win)
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To: deks
Judge confirms decision to sink Elon Musk’s $56B pay package despite Tesla shareholder vote

Another arrogant shitty judge who needs her lights punched out.

17 posted on 12/02/2024 6:29:09 PM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: deks
Isn't government control and coercion of private sector industry a characteristic element of fascism?

How does this judge get to decide the salary of the CEO of a private sector company and not call it fascism?

-PJ

18 posted on 12/02/2024 6:29:43 PM PST by Political Junkie Too ( * LAAP = Left-wing Activist Agitprop Press (formerly known as the MSM))
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To: deks

I get it now.


19 posted on 12/02/2024 6:44:18 PM PST by wiseprince (Me)
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To: deks

It’s not about the amount of pay but the principle that Musk took no salary and worked entirely on a performance basis. He made investors lots of money. He made quality products.

Not one penny should be awarded to scavenger lawyers who seek to rob investors while pretending to represent them.

Divest from Delaware and New York. They’ve become third-world kleptocracies.


20 posted on 12/02/2024 6:50:50 PM PST by unlearner (Still not tired of winning.)
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