Tesla shareholders have approved Elon Musk’s ‘unfathomable’ pay package

Tesla shareholders have again approved Elon Musk’s multi-billion dollar pay package several months after a Delaware court it. During the electric car maker’s annual shareholder meeting, the company’s stockholders signed off on a proposal to reinstate Musk’s pay package, currently worth about $48 billion, according to .

Judge Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s Chancery Court previously called the Tesla CEO’s pay, worth $56 billion when it was first approved in 2018, an “unfathomable sum.” Musk responded by threatening to move the company’s state of incorporation to Texas. During Tesla’s meeting, shareholders officially signed off on the move.

The approval of Musk’s compensation doesn’t guarantee that his eye-popping pay will be reinstated. As Bloomberg points out, the vote doesn’t invalidate the judge’s initial ruling, but Tesla will almost certainly appeal and point to the latest shareholder vote as evidence that the company’s stockholders have approved it.

Unsurprisingly, Musk seemed pleased with the vote. “I just want to start off by saying, hot damn. I love you guys,” he said after taking the stage at the shareholder meeting. He later said that the reinstatement of his pay wouldn’t affect his short-term commitment to Tesla. “It is worth emphasizing that it’s Tesla stock that I have to own for five years. It’s not actually cash, and I can’t cut and run, nor would I want to.”