• Musk got a pay package from Tesla in 2018 that helped him become the richest person in the world.
• Today, the net value of the compensation package is $50.9 billion.
• Since shareholders approved the package, the value of Tesla has gone up by more than 1,000% at its peak.

Friday afternoon, the trial for the Tesla shareholder lawsuit that looked at CEO Elon Musk’s unheard-of pay package came to an end. From the bench, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick did not make a decision, and it could be weeks or months before a decision is made.

As the trial came to an end, McCormick told the lawyers on both sides, “We have a lot of work to do.” “I won’t insult you by saying that settlement is still possible, which is what I usually say at this point.”

Musk got a pay package from Tesla in 2018 that helped him become the richest person in the world. Today, the net value of the compensation package is $50.9 billion. Since shareholders approved the package, the value of Tesla has gone up by more than 1,000% at its peak.

Plaintiff Richard Tornetta filed the lawsuit in June 2018, saying that Musk used his control of Tesla and the board of directors to get the money to “fund his personal ambition to colonise Mars.” This week, in Wilmington, the Delaware Court of Chancery heard arguments.

Tornetta and his lawyers say that Musk and the board didn’t do what was right financially for shareholders. Tesla says that its board of directors, which includes Musk, has a legal duty to take care of shareholders’ money in addition to keeping an eye on management.

Tornetta said that Musk didn’t need the huge pay package as an incentive because he already owned the most of Tesla.

This week, Musk, the board chair Robyn Denholm, the former chief financial officer Deepak Ahuja, the former board member Antonio Gracias, and the board members Ira Ehrenpreis and James Murdoch all gave testimony.

On Friday, experts gave their opinions at the trial.

Kevin Murphy, a business school professor at the University of Southern California, testified for Tesla and the other defendants that the pay package was fair. He also said that, by NASDAQ’s rules, Tesla’s board members were considered to be independent. The freedom of the directors is one of the main points of the case.

Lawyers for Tornetta have talked about how Musk and many of his board members who made the deal are friends. Some of them have vacationed together in places like magician David Copperfield’s private island in the Bahamas, where Musk called his brother Kimbal and Gracias in 2017 to figure out if James Murdoch should join Tesla’s board, according to Kimbal’s deposition, which was played in court this week. Elon Musk called Murdoch a friend since 2006. Murdoch joined them on Copperfield’s Island for part of the trip and soon after joined the board.

Several experts on corporate governance said that it is clear that Musk has too much power over Tesla’s board of directors.

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