Tesla’s board gave CEO Elon Musk another huge pay day this week. The company’s latest CEO pay package, worth approximately $29 billion, comes as the company fights to reinstate his original $56 billion 2018 pay package.
That package was rejected by a Delaware court for a second time following a shareholder lawsuit. Musk is appealing the order.
Tesla, in a letter to shareholders on Monday, said that Musk has “not received meaningful compensation for eight years” adding that its “legal efforts continue” to reinstate the 2018 pay package. It said there’s “no clear timeline for resolution.”
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Monday’s pay package keeps Musk in charge of the company and still makes him the highest-paid CEO in history. The package would give the South Africa-born CEO 96 million shares of Tesla, each of which trades at just over $300, CNN reported.
Musk would have to pay $23.34 for each of those shares — the same amount he was to pay when he was first awarded his 2018 compensation package.
“Despite these legal challenges, we can all agree that Elon has delivered the transformative and unprecedented growth that was required to earn all milestones of the 2018 CEO Performance Award,” board members Robyn Denholm and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson wrote. “This growth has translated into immense value generated for Tesla and all our shareholders.”
Musk, who is Tesla’s largest individual shareholder, owning about 13% of the company, angered many shareholders recently after turning his attention to politics. He spent considerable time and money attempting to get Republican candidates elected to office.
This shift affected his company as its sales began falling. Musk recently said he would return to his companies full-time, a move that has been welcomed by shareholders.
