Elon Musk furious that judge’s Tesla attack threatens his status as the world’s richest man

Angry Elon Musk faces losing his title as the world’s richest man after a judge ruled he was not entitled to Tesla’s £43bn payout.

The entrepreneur, who runs SpaceX, social media giant If that happens, his fortune will plummet and he will instantly fall to third place on the world’s richest list.

Judge Kathleen McCormick found that the handouts given to him five years ago were due to his power over Tesla directors. The ruling in Delaware came after a shareholder lawsuit pitting the company’s 52-year-old chief executive and board members over dividends.

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They were accused of breaching their obligations to the company, resulting in the squandering of company assets and unjust enrichment for Mr. Musk. Lawyers for shareholders argued that the pay package should be scrapped because it was ordered by Musk and was the product of fraudulent negotiations with directors who were not independent of him.

Their legal team said they were given misleading and incomplete disclosures approved by shareholders.

Musk was outraged by the ruling, which, if approved, would put him below French fashion mogul Bernard Arnault and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in the cash league.

“Never incorporate a company in Delaware,” he charged on X (formerly Twitter).

“If you want your shareholders to decide things, I recommend incorporating in Nevada or Texas.”

Earlier this month, Musk, who tops Forbes’ list of richest people with an estimated fortune of £166bn, asked Tesla’s board to draw up a new remuneration plan that would give him 25% of Tesla’s shares. .

At trial, he denied determining his compensation or attending meetings where it was discussed by the board, compensation committee or working group that contributed to the decision.

However, Mr Justice McCormick ruled that because he was a controlling shareholder with a potential conflict of interest, his pay package needed to be subject to stricter standards.

“The process that led to the approval of Mr. Musk’s compensation plan was deeply flawed,” she wrote in her 200-page ruling.

“Mr. Musk had extensive relationships with individuals tasked with negotiating on Tesla’s behalf.”

Judge McCormick cited his long-standing business and personal relationships with billionaire Compensation Chairman Ira Ehrenpreis and Commissioner Antonio Gracias.

He also noted that the pay package work group also included Musk’s former divorce attorney, Todd Marron.

“It’s unclear which side Mr. Maron considered himself on,” the judge said, adding that Musk’s compensation award for driving himself should be reversed. Plaintiff shareholders stated that the compensation was unreasonably high.

“The fact that they lost in Delaware court is surprising,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at wealth investment firm Wedbush Securities.

“A verdict like this is unprecedented.

“I think investors thought this was just typical legal noise and nothing would come out about it.

“The fact that they went head-to-head with Tesla, Musk and the board and invalidated this is a significant legal decision.”

Lawyers for Musk and the other Tesla defendants did not respond to requests for comment.

The ruling came hours after Musk announced that Neuralink Boffins had successfully implanted a brain chip into a human for the first time, creating a true cyborg.

The businessman said the breakthrough technology would allow patients to control their computers and phones “just by thinking.”

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