Elon Musk's Big Win: Tesla's $139 Billion Pay Package Back in Play

The Delaware Supreme Court has made a big decision. They said Elon Musk's huge pay deal with Tesla is back on. This deal was first made in 2018. A lower court had said it was not fair. But the higher court disagreed. They said Musk should not be left without pay for his work over six years. The pay package is worth a lot more now. It was worth about $56 billion when it was first made. But now, it is worth around $139 billion. This is because Tesla's stock price has gone up. Musk was happy with the decision. He said he felt "vindicated" on his social media platform, X. This means he feels he has been proven right. If Musk uses all the stock options from the 2018 plan, he will own more of Tesla. Right now, he owns about 12. 4% of the company. But if he uses all the options, he will own about 18. 1%. Musk has said he wants to keep control of Tesla. He is also the boss of SpaceX and xAI. Tesla's board has said Musk might leave if he does not get more voting power and performance-based pay.Earlier this year, a lower court said the pay plan was not fair. The judge said Tesla's directors did not tell shareholders everything they needed to know. Musk was not happy with this decision. He said Delaware judges were not fair to tech founders. But now, the higher court has said the pay plan is fair. They also said Tesla shareholders approved a new pay plan for Musk in November. This new plan could be worth up to $1 trillion if Tesla meets certain goals. Some people are not sure about the new pay plan. They say it might not push Musk to do his best. They think he could meet the minimum goals and still get a lot of money. But others say the plan is good because it ties pay to performance. Tesla's stock price was down a bit on Friday. It closed at $481. 20. But it went up a little bit in after-hours trading.