Tesla CEO Elon Musk lost his bid to get his 2018 CEO pay package reinstated on Monday when a Delaware judge upheld her prior ruling that the compensation plan was improperly granted.
The package, worth about $56 billion, was the largest compensation plan in U.S. history for a public company executive.
Musk attorneys attempted to sway the judge in the Delaware business court after the trial to reverse her opinion rescinding the CEO’s pay plan. Tesla had conducted a shareholder vote to “ratify” Musk’s 2018 pay plan at the EV maker’s annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, in June.
Judge Kathaleen McCormick wrote in her opinion on Monday that, “Even if a stockholder vote could have a ratifying effect, it could not do so here.”
The opinion also concerned fees for the attorneys representing the shareholders who had sued Tesla to undo the CEO pay plan.
Musk can appeal the decision to the Delaware Supreme Court.
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