Delaware judge again rejects Musk’s multi-billion dollar pay package

A Delaware judge has again rejected Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk’s multi-billion dollar pay package for a second time, leaving the company uncertain as to how to adequately compensate their CEO for a 1,500% share price gain over the last 5 years. Musk’s attorneys attempted to reverse McCormick’s original decision after shareholders approved the figure this past June.

Judge Kathaleen McCormick declined to restore Musk’s $56B compensation and ordered the company to pay $345M in fees to the plaintiffs’ attorneys. In her decision, McCormick said the approval process lacked transparency, and that the Tesla (TSLA) board was “beholden” to Musk.

“Even if a stockholder vote could have a ratifying effect, it could not do so here,” McCormick said in her decision.

Nevertheless, the board argued that any new package would be more expensive as it would include 303M Tesla stock options awarded at a much higher price.

Tesla (TSLA) shares dipped 1.3% in after-hours trading following the news.