For seven years, one of the most consequential compensation battles in corporate history has been winding its way through the Delaware court system. At stake was not just a pay package, but the largest executive compensation award ever created, a deal so massive that its fate would ultimately swing Elon Musk's personal fortune by hundreds of billions of dollars.
This week, that fight finally ended. And with a single ruling from the Delaware Supreme Court, Elon Musk's net worth exploded overnight.
Thanks to the court's decision reinstating Musk's 2018 Tesla stock option package, his personal fortune surged from roughly $650 billion to approximately $750 billion, instantly making him the world's first quarter-trillionaire by an almost absurd margin. No human being in recorded history has ever been this rich.
(Photo by Theo Wargo/WireImage)
The 2018 Tesla Pay Plan That Started It All
In early 2018, Tesla's board approved what was widely described at the time as a moonshot compensation plan for its CEO. The structure was radical. Musk would receive no salary, no cash bonus, and no guaranteed equity. Instead, he would earn stock options only if Tesla achieved a series of extremely aggressive operational and market-cap milestones.
At the time, Tesla was worth roughly $50 billion. The pay package required Musk to hit twelve escalating targets tied to revenue, profitability, and market capitalization. The highest hurdle required Tesla to surpass a $650 billion valuation, a level that seemed almost laughable in 2018.
If Musk failed, he got nothing. If he succeeded, he would earn the right to purchase tens of millions of shares at a heavily discounted strike price, creating what could become the largest payday in corporate history.
Over the next several years, Musk did something few believed possible. Tesla didn't just meet the goals. It obliterated them. The company became one of the most valuable automakers in the world, then one of the most valuable companies of any kind. By 2021, every single milestone in the 2018 plan had been achieved.
On paper, Musk had earned the full award.
The Judge Who Blew It Up
In January 2024, everything changed.
Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick ruled that the 2018 compensation package should be voided entirely. Her reasoning centered on governance and process, not performance. The ruling found that Musk exercised outsized influence over Tesla's board, that several directors had conflicts of interest, and that shareholders were not fully informed when they approved the plan.
The decision was extraordinary. Never before had a court completely rescinded a compensation plan after the executive had already fulfilled every requirement.
Overnight, Musk's options were frozen. For net worth trackers, including CelebrityNetWorth and Forbes, the value of the package was either removed entirely or heavily discounted. Musk's fortune dropped by well over $100 billion on paper, despite Tesla continuing to operate exactly as it had the day before.
What followed was a bitter, highly public legal and political war.
Seven Years Of Legal Warfare And A Delaware Backlash
Musk appealed the decision, while simultaneously launching a public campaign against Delaware's corporate courts. He accused the state of being hostile to entrepreneurs and controlling shareholders. Tesla ultimately moved its incorporation from Delaware to Texas. SpaceX and other Musk-controlled entities followed suit.
Behind the scenes, Delaware lawmakers moved to update corporate statutes in an effort to stem the growing risk of companies fleeing the state en masse. The implications went far beyond Tesla. Delaware is the legal home of more than 60% of Fortune 500 companies and generates billions annually in incorporation fees.
For nearly two years, the 2018 pay package remained in limbo as the case worked its way up to the Delaware Supreme Court.
The Ruling That Changed Everything
This week, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that reversed the most financially devastating part of the lower court's ruling.
While the justices agreed that Tesla's board was riddled with conflicts, they ruled that canceling Musk's entire compensation package was an improper remedy. The court concluded that rescission left Musk effectively uncompensated for six years of work, despite the fact that Tesla and its shareholders were massively rewarded during that period.
In plain English, the court said Musk earned the pay and wiping it out entirely went too far.
The result was immediate and staggering.
Musk's 2018 options, now worth roughly $139 billion, snapped back onto his balance sheet. Net worth models that had been discounting or excluding the award were forced to instantly reprice his fortune.
From $650 Billion To $750 Billion Overnight
Before the ruling, Musk's net worth hovered around $650 billion, driven primarily by his stakes in Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and other ventures. The reinstatement of the 2018 options alone added roughly $100 billion in net value after accounting for strike prices and taxes.
With the stroke of a pen, that single legal decision propelled Elon Musk's net worth to $750 billion.
To put that number in perspective, the second-richest person in the world is worth roughly $250 billion. Musk is now richer than the next three or four people combined. His fortune is larger than the GDP of many countries. It is nearly inconceivable on a human scale.
And perhaps most astonishingly, this may not even be the peak.
Tesla shareholders have already approved an entirely separate performance-based compensation plan that could eventually be worth close to $1 trillion if Musk hits a new set of extreme long-term targets tied to AI, robotics, and autonomous vehicles. Meanwhile, SpaceX is reportedly preparing for a 2026 IPO at a valuation that could approach $1.5 trillion.
The Era Of The Quarter-Trillionaire
For decades, the idea of a trillionaire sounded like science fiction. A $100 billion fortune once felt impossible. Then $200 billion. Then $300 billion. Just last week, Elon became the first person in history to reach $600 billion.
Now we are talking about a $750 billion personal net worth as a real, documented number attached to a single individual.
Elon Musk is no longer just the richest person in the world. He is the richest human being who has ever lived by an almost absurd margin. And thanks to a courtroom in Delaware, that gap just widened dramatically.
The era of the quarter-trillionaire has arrived. And whether anyone likes it or not, the trillionaire era suddenly feels a lot closer than it did a few days ago.
Read more: Oh. My. God. Elon Musk's Net Worth Is Now $750 Billion Thanks To A Delaware Court Ruling
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