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Tesla Board Likely to Get CEO Musk His Pay Package 'One Way or Another,' Wedbush Says
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Tesla Board Likely to Get CEO Musk His Pay Package 'One Way or Another,' Wedbush Says
Dec 3, 2024 1:00 PM

03:37 PM EST, 12/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Tesla's (TSLA) board is eventually expected to get Chief Executive Elon Musk his hefty pay package "one way or another" despite a Delaware judge's fresh ruling against the plan, Wedbush Securities said Tuesday.

The electric vehicle maker's shareholders first approved Musk's payout deal in 2018, but Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery in January voided the plan, calling it an "unfathomable sum." In June, the company's shareholders again voted in favor of the compensation package, worth about $56 billion at the time.

However, McCormick yet again blocked the package Monday.

"Were the court to condone the practice of allowing defeated parties to create new facts for the purpose of revising judgments, lawsuits would become interminable," McCormick said in a court filing. Tesla's arguments contain certain problems that are enough to defeat its motion to revise the court's decision. "Taken together, they pack a powerful punch," McCormick said.

Tesla's shares were down 2.2% in Tuesday late-afternoon trade. The shares have increased 41% year to date.

"Shareholders should control company votes, not judges," Musk said in a post on social media platform X.

Separately, Tesla said in an X post that the court's decision is "wrong" and that the company is going to appeal it. "This ruling, if not overturned, means that judges and plaintiffs' lawyers run Delaware companies rather than their rightful owners -- the shareholders."

"The Delaware court battle has become a soap opera, and we expect Tesla will ultimately win this fight at the Supreme Court level, given shareholders have approved this pay package twice in an overwhelming matter," Wedbush analysts, including Daniel Ives, said in a Tuesday note to clients. "One way or another, the board is getting Musk his pay package (and another long-term one for the next decade) to secure Musk will be CEO of Tesla at least through 2030."

Following McCormick's initial blocking of the pay package, Tesla decided to shift its corporate home to Texas from Delaware. "We also believe this case could be the catalyst for more public companies to leave the state of Delaware for their corporation status as the legal precedents set in this Tesla/Musk case (are) very eye-opening to public boards around the country and go against shareholders vote in a dangerous precedent," Ives wrote.

Price: 349.47, Change: -7.62, Percent Change: -2.13

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