Mr Elon Musk’s record-setting Tesla pay package was again rejected by a Delaware judge even after shareholders supported reinstating it.

Despite the June 13 shareholder vote at the company’s annual meeting, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick decided to stick with her original finding in January that the company’s board was too much under the influence of the billionaire entrepreneur when it adopted the plan in 2018. 

The stock options package was initially worth US$2.6 billion (S$3.48 billion) and spiked to US$56 billion by the time the judge cancelled it. The package was worth US$101.5 billion at Dec 2’s closing price.

Judge McCormick’s ruling striking down the highest-ever pay arrangement for a US corporate executive could take a giant bite out of Mr Musk’s wealth. Even without the payout, he remains the world’s richest person. Tesla shares fell 1.4 per cent in after-hours trading.

The ruling comes just after Mr Musk’s wealth hit an all-time high – surpassing the previous record of US$340.4 billion set in November 2021 – thanks to a Tesla stock rally following the presidential election and a new funding round for his artificial intelligence startup.

Richest person

Mr Musk, 53, spent much of October campaigning for Donald Trump, including speaking at a Madison Square Garden rally in New York City about a week before the election. The president-elect has tapped Mr Musk to co-lead a cost-cutting effort that the new administration is calling “DOGE,” or the “Department of Government Efficiency.”

Tesla and its board, which includes Mr Musk, didn’t...