Elon Musk gets US$139B pay package from 2018 restored after yearslong battle with Delaware judge

Elon Musk attends the Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The Delaware Supreme Court has restored a massive pay package awarded to Tesla CEO Elon Musk in 2018 that had twice been voided by a lower court judge.

The package awarded Musk the option to purchase 303 million split-adjusted shares, a package worth US$139 billion at Friday’s closing share price. Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, who oversaw the bench, had found that even though Tesla shareholders twice approved the compensation plan, the size of the package was unfair to shareholders.

She wrote that the Tesla board “bore the burden of proving that the compensation plan was fair, and they failed to meet their burden.”

Even after shareholders voted again in favor of the package, McCormick rejected the package as unfair a second time.

But the Delaware Supreme Court ruled Friday that the lower court erred in its opinion and that tossing out the 2018 pay package was “inequitable” and that doing so “leaves Musk uncompensated for his time and efforts over a period of six years.”

Musk is already the richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $644 billion, according to Bloomberg’s billionaire tracker. A large chunk of that wealth comes from the 413 million shares of Tesla he owns outright, shares worth $199 billion at Friday’s closing price. Tesla’s stock is near the record high it reached earlier this week.

He was recently awarded a new pay package by Tesla that could be worth $1 trillion if the value of Tesla stock climbs as much as he and the company project.

And Tesla is only part of Musk’s net worth. He also is the primary shareholder of SpaceX, a company he is planning to take public sometime next year at a valuation that would also massively increase his wealth further.

“Thank you for your unwavering support,” Musk replied on X Friday evening in response to someone who had posted about the Delaware Supreme Court’s decision.