Musk Appeals Landmark Ruling Killing $56 Billion Tesla Pay Deal

Elon Musk on Wednesday appealed the court decision voiding his record $56 billion Tesla Inc. pay package, opening the next chapter in a years-long legal saga over the richest CEO compensation deal ever.

The widely expected move sends the case to Delaware’s top court almost a full year after the initial landmark ruling. Musk—who briefly surrendered his status as world’s wealthiest person last year but quickly regained it as Tesla shares soared—is now worth around $425 billion, roughly $185 billion more than Jeff Bezos, who holds the No. 2 slot, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The six-year drama has captivated Delaware’s tight-knit legal community, amplified perennial concerns about the state’s standing as America’s corporate capital, and forced its elite business court to weather a barrage of attacks from Musk, who spent 2024 ginning up the wrath of his more than 200 million social media followers. He moved Tesla to Texas in June.

The litigation in Delaware’s Chancery Court raised a host of unusual issues and close calls that culminated in a second decision last month by its chief judge, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick, who stood by her 200-page opinion 11 months earlier. McCormick also handed $345 million to the lawyers leading the lawsuit and rejected Musk’s unprecedented bid to override her ruling through a shareholder vote aimed at restoring his stock options.

Musk and the board are represented by Ross Aronstam & Moritz LLP, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. Tesla is represented by Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP, Richards, Layton & Finger PA, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and DLA Piper LLP (US). The investor who led the case is represented by Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP, and Andrews & Springer LLC.

The case is Musk v. Tornetta, Del., No. 11, 2025, 1/8/25.