“I’m literally so upset right now. He keeps winning and I can’t handle it. My wife’s boyfriend loves Elon and it makes me sick.” - Literally every Elon hater in America right now… 

Give credit where credit is due. What kind of man who owns only nine Tesla shares has the balls to think he would stop Elon’s compensation package back in 2018? History will remember him as Richard J. Tornetta. A man who stared directly into the sun and said, “Yeah, I’ll sue that.”

(Source: Giphy) 

Fast forward a few years and the Delaware Supreme Court just reinstated Elon’s 2018 pay package…  the one everyone pretends they don’t understand but somehow has very strong opinions about… and then looked Tornetta dead in the eyes and said: Here’s $1. Don’t spend it all in one place LOL. You can’t make this sh*t up.  

In case you missed it, the original lawsuit argued that Elon “improperly influenced” Tesla’s board when they approved his compensation. Which… sure. Tesla’s board is basically an Elon meme page with better suits. No one is disputing that. Even the Delaware Supreme Court admitted there was some mild-to-moderate degeneracy going on. But they also weren’t thrilled with the idea of leaving the CEO who turned a niche EV company into a cultural, financial, and political personality cult completely unpaid for six years of work. So Tornetta technically “won” on the principle… and lost on literally everything else.

(Source: CNN) 

And just to really twist the knife, let’s do the math Tornetta absolutely did not want done. Tesla stock in 2018 was roughly $20 (split-adjusted). Tesla stock today $481, which just so happens to put the value of Elon’s reinstated 2018 package at about $140 billion. For context, that’s more money than most countries, all earned while posting through it on Twitter. Meanwhile, Tornetta walks away with $1 and a fun anecdote for parties that immediately kill the vibe.

That said, this doesn’t impact Elon’s new pay package, the one approved in November that could be worth $1 trillion if Tesla hits its moonshot targets. That thing is still very much alive, breathing, and making compensation consultants sweat through their shirts. As of now, Elon Musk is sitting on an estimated $644 billion net worth, largely driven by the 413 million Tesla shares he owns outright. That’s before SpaceX, which he’s casually planning to take public next year like it’s a side quest.

(Source: Giphy) 

Oh, and somewhere out there, Richard J. Tornetta is deciding whether to frame that dollar… or short Tesla out of spite. Either way… legendary performance on both sides. Until next time, friends… 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News holds positions in Tesla as mentioned in the article.