Tech billionaire Elon Musk has risen to cultural prominence recently, thanks in large part to his electric-powered Tesla cars and his purchase of Twitter. Musk even worked with President-elect Donald Trump on the campaign trail to help him secure the victory over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Unfortunately, Musk recently got hammered with some hard news.
Musk learned on Monday that a Delaware judge had denied him a $56 billion compensation package from Tesla, according to Yahoo. This is the second time that Musk has been denied the package.
Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Court of Chancery denied the compensation package for the first time in January. McCormick cited “extensive ties” between Musk and the party negotiating the package with him as the reason for her denial.
After this denial, Tesla shareholders approved the pay package again in hopes that the overwhelming majority of the shareholders’ support would convince McCormick to reverse course on her decision.
McCormick ruled in her second decision that since shareholders voted for the same pay package that she initially denied, there was the same conflict of interest with board members who voted for the initial shareholder vote.
“[A] stockholder vote standing alone cannot ratify a conflicted-controller transaction,” McCormick said.
This legal battle will likely continue to drag on and there’s a chance it goes all the way up to the Supreme Court.
