In the wild world of tech billionaire drama, Elon Musk has once again found himself at the center of a paycheck controversy that's more dramatic than a SpaceX rocket launch. Imagine this—a jaw-dropping $55.8 billion compensation package, a determined Delaware judge, and an internet primed and ready to meme every single moment.
For the second time, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick has roundly rejected Musk's astronomical pay deal, sending shock(and meme)waves through Tesla's corporate landscape and proving that even tech titans aren't immune to judicial side-eye.
Judge says no to Elon Musk’s multi-billion dollar pay, and the internet says ‘Game On’
Back in 2018, Tesla crafted a performance-based pay package so ambitious that most shareholders thought Elon would never actually hit the targets. Spoiler alert: he did—and then some. The plan was essentially an all-or-nothing bet, requiring Musk to supercharge Tesla's market valuation to unlock massive stock rewards. We're talking about milestones that would make most CEOs break out in a cold sweat: increasing Tesla's market cap from $100 billion to a mind-blowing $650 billion.
Enter Richard Tornetta, a shareholder who wasn't buying what Elon Musk was selling. He launched a lawsuit alleging that Musk wielded too much influence over Tesla's board, essentially arguing that the compensation package was less about performance and more about, well, Elon being Elon. The judge agreed, calling out what she termed a "deeply flawed" approval process that reeked of corporate insider shenanigans.
Despite a shareholder vote in June that approved the package with a whopping 72% majority, Judge McCormick remained unmoved. Her reasoning? Musk's superstar status creates a "distortion field" that makes even independent directors more likely to roll over and play dead. She essentially called out the board for "capitulating to Musk's terms" instead of maintaining genuine corporate independence.
The internet, predictably, went wild. Memes flooded social media faster than Tesla Cybertrucks can (allegedly) accelerate. Users joked about Musk requesting a "small loan" of $55.8 billion, compared the paycheck to Monopoly money, and created gif after gif showcasing flying Tesla Roadsters drowning in dollar bills. Twitter—or X, as Musk insists on calling it—became a meme battlefield of epic proportions.
Musk's response? Typical Musk. He fired off a tweet declaring that "shareholders should control company votes, not judges," while Tesla vowed to appeal. The company dramatically claimed that if the ruling stands, it would mean "judges and plaintiffs' lawyers run Delaware companies rather than their rightful owners."
But here's the kicker: Musk isn't exactly your average broke guy. He still owns a massive chunk of Tesla stock and remains the world's richest person, with an estimated net worth hovering around $350 billion. This pay package rejection is more about corporate governance principles than putting food on Musk's table.
Trending
In the end, the saga continues. Whether Musk will eventually secure his astronomical paycheck remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: as long as there's a billionaire tech CEO pushing boundaries, the internet will be ready with memes, jokes, and plenty of digital popcorn to watch the show.
Reply
