Elon Musk’s $56B Tesla pay package restored by Delaware Supreme Court
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The Delaware Supreme Court has reinstated Elon Musk’s $56 billion Tesla pay package from 2018, overturning last year’s ruling by the state’s Chancery Court, according to an opinion published Friday. The state supreme court’s decision draws to a close a years-long battle that left such a bad taste in Musk’s mouth that he moved its incorporation out of Delaware to Texas, which prompted other companies to follow suit. Tesla will now likely revoke a $29 billion pay package it offered Musk earlier this year, which was meant as a hedge against the possibility that they would lose the Delaware Supreme Court appeal. The $1 trillion compensation package awarded to Musk in November is separate from that, and will continue to exist going forward, giving Musk a series of lofty goals to hit in order to unlock the full value. The 2018 award also set out a number of milestones that Musk had to hit in order to unlock the full value. Musk and Tesla hit all of those goals, but not before a shareholder filed suit over the award in 2018, arguing that it had been improperly negotiated and that shareholders weren’t properly informed of the conflicts of interest at play. After years of back-and-forth, including a trial where Musk testified, the Chancery Court judge overseeing the case agreed with the plaintiff and initially struck down the pay package in January 2024. Tesla held a vote at its annual meeting in 2024 where shareholders “re-approved” the package, but the judge confirmed her decision in December 2024. Tesla appealed soon after. This story is developing… Techcrunch event Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. Join the Disrupt 2026 Waitlist Add yourself to the Disrupt 2026 waitlist to be first in line when Early Bird tickets drop. Past Disrupts have brought Google Cloud, Netflix, Microsoft, Box, Phia, a16z, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Hugging Face, Elad Gil, and Vinod Khosla to the stages — part of 250+ industry leaders driving 200+ sessions built to fuel your growth and sharpen your edge. Plus, meet the hundreds of startups innovating across every sector. San Francisco | October 13-15, 2026 WAITLIST NOW Topics Elon Musk, Tesla, Transportation Sean O'Kane Sr. Reporter, Transportation Sean O’Kane is a reporter who has spent a decade covering the rapidly-evolving business and technology of the transportation industry, including Tesla and the many startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories about some of the most notorious EV SPAC flops. He previously worked at The Verge, where he also covered consumer technology, hosted many short- and long-form videos, performed product and editorial photography, and once nearly passed out in a Red Bull Air Race plane. You can contact or verify outreach from Sean by emailing sean.okane@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at okane.01 on Signal.
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