There was a foolish quantity of drama within the run-up to Tesla’s annual shareholder assembly on Thursday. The corporate is ready to carry a vote on “re-ratifying” the $56 billion compensation package deal awarded to Elon Musk in 2018, which was struck down by a Delaware Chancery Court docket choose earlier this yr. It can additionally maintain a vote whether or not the corporate will change the situation the place it’s integrated from Delaware to Texas.
A few of Tesla’s largest boosters are calling on the corporate’s “retail army” of shareholders to vote in favor of each, however with particular deal with Musk’s compensation. It’s not clear what tangible impression the result of both vote may have. However Tesla executives and staff — together with some who mainly by no means publish on social media — are merely begging for votes.
Throughout the breathless longform posts, Areas audio conferences, podcasts and myriad different calls to motion, the main focus has been educated on the concept that Musk is owed this compensation as a result of he hit the targets agreed to on the outset. “A deal is a deal,” Tesla posted to its CEO’s social media platform X.
But, nearly nobody is discussing the substance of chancellor Kathaleen McCormick’s January ruling and its dominant theme: Musk holds a lot sway over Tesla and its board of administrators that there was no substantial negotiation when the corporate hammered out this cope with him in 2017-2018.
As an alternative, there have been accusations from the Tesla trustworthy of her being a “radical activist judge” — accusations which are simply defanged as you learn by means of her examination of the proof of the case.
So, some homework then! To the Tesla followers, haters, shareholders and rubberneckers, right here it’s once more, embedded beneath. McCormick’s 201-page opinion is an intensive however lucid learn. It’s value brushing up on it once more earlier than the vote takes place. On the very least, it’s a primer for the authorized battles which are certain to proceed after Thursday’s vote.
Tornetta v. Musk Put up-Trial Opinion by Sean O’Kane on Scribd