Tesla CEO Elon Musk was awarded an interim pay package of 96 million shares of the company over the weekend. The shares would be worth about $29 billion.
Tesla stock climbed about 2% Monday.
The company said in a filing Sunday that the pay package would vest in two years as long as Musk continued as CEO or in another key executive position.
The new award would be forfeited if the legal battle over his 2018 compensation ends with Musk being able to exercise the larger pay package, which was valued at $56 billion.
In January, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick upheld a prior ruling in the case, Tornetta v. Musk, that the compensation plan was improperly granted. Tesla shareholders approved the pay package in June 2024.
The case is now before the Delaware Supreme Court.
Musk’s 2018 pay package included a set of performance targets for the company, which were all achieved.
The judge called it “the largest potential compensation opportunity ever observed in public markets” in her January decision and said it was 33 times higher than the nearest comparison, which was Musk’s prior compensation package.
