by Tom Halls
(Reuters) – Twitter’s $44 billion buyout helps provide evidence in a shareholder lawsuit against Elon Musk over his $56 billion salary as Tesla CEO deemed too high .
The complaint concerns Elon Musk’s 10-year compensation package that Tesla’s board approved in 2018, without requiring the billionaire to devote himself to the electric vehicle maker.
The takeover of Twitter and its potential to hijack Elon Musk from Tesla will play a significant role in the lawsuit in October, according to one of the shareholder’s attorneys.
“Look at most CEO contracts. The first line says ‘you’ll be a full-time CEO and you’ll be essentially full-time dedicated to the business and affairs of the company.’ That’s the norm,” he said. Greg Varallo of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann, the firm leading the case against the pay deal.
Elon Musk and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
In court documents, the opposing party believes the compensation plan was properly crafted by independent directors, approved by shareholders, and generated unprecedented gains for investors.
Tesla stock has fallen more than 20% since Elon Musk revealed he took a 9% stake in Twitter on April 4.
Besides Twitter, the entrepreneur is already president of the aerospace company SpaceX, founder of the tunnel construction company The Boring Company and owner of Neuralink, a start-up specializing in brain implants. Among his stated ambitions is the colonization of Mars.
(Reporting Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; French version Federica Mileo; Editing by Kate Entringer)
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