You may have heard the legal drama about Elon Musk's pay package a few months ago. I believe it was in the beginning of this year when Musk's pay package of $56 billion was found illegal and cancelled. It was an interesting story, many had different views and opinions about this. On one hand I thought what Musk wanted for compensation as the CEO of Tesla a bit greedy, but on the other in a free market if all involved parties agree and benefit from decisions no compensation is too high. I wasn't sure what to think of the entire situation. All I got from it was Musk really love money, and not in it only for innovation and technology. After the legal drama ended and lawyers who argued against Elon Musk won their case in the court successfully, I thought it was the end of it.
Today, news broke that the lawyers who won the case against Elon Musks pay package are seeking $5.6 billion in Tesla stocks as legal fees. Wow! Is this a hypocrisy or what? Their entire argument in defeating Elon Musk was that him and Tesla board involved in collusion to get him a greedy package deal. The core case was that Elon was too greedy and wanted too much in compensation for the work he has been doing at Tesla as a CEO. By the same logic, if $56 billion is too much for a CEO of startup company who successfully was able to take a decent amount market share in automobile industry from giants who had been in the space for ages, then $6 billion for legal fees for team of lawyers is definitely beyond greedy.
Yes, lawyer have high fees, especially the ones who deal with corporate disputes. These fee even when inflated have some limits that kinda may present them as reasonable. I don't know who was involved in the case, I don't know how many lawyers and their associates did the work. Let's assume there were 100 lawyers involved and they all deserve being paid $1 million a year for their work on this case. If they spent 5 years on this case, they would all be entitled for $5 million each. For all 100 lawyers the total number would be $500 million. Of course I am exaggerating here. It is very unlikely 100 lawyers worked in the case, and also unlikely all make $1 million in one case. But even with exaggerated imagination I can't get close to a billion dollars in fees.
In addition to this crazy legal fee they are asking the judge to award them, they are asking for a couple million dollars in expenses. lol. I can't even start to comprehend the greed and hypocrisy of these lawyers. If you ask me none of them deserve these amounts to be awarded. For what? They already have received the best award lawyers and law firms can get. That is free marketing and reputation in corporate law space. The only reason the case received such attention is because it involved Elon Musk and Tesla. By winning the case they have built themselves a nice reputation as competent lawyers and a law firm. This should drive more business and bring in more clients. Usually that's what law firms like to gain when they get involved in high profile cases.
There are many things I dislike about Elon Musk. It might be how he behaves, what he says, what he does, or even maybe bad comedy. But what I admire about him is his role as visionary and innovator in technology. I do believe Tesla's success has to do a lot with Elon leading him. Visionaries have similar characteristics in my opinion. They have unreasonable obsession in the space they are in, and able to see how future can be changed with innovation, and able to bring teams together in achieving these goals despite the huge obstacles. Steve Jobs was able to create and build Apple when all odds were against him. Then he was able to revive Apple, take it out of failing and make one of the most successful companies in the world again. There are many things I didn't like about Jobs either. But his contributions to advancement in technologies can't be ignored.
Sure, paying tens of billions to CEOs is crazy. But is not that crazy if these CEO are visionaries like Musk, Jobs, Nakomoto, etc. Because in the end such compensation end up being small fees for massive gains investors receives. When this legal drama was on going, Musk made a couple statements that he deserve to have big percentage of stakes in the company to be incentivized and continue making it a success. There were many investors who sided with Musk as well and they too agreed with Elon and didn't mind his big compensation package. I do think it is kinda too greedy for someone who is already extremely wealthy. What do you need more money for? The Tesla share he already has would be plenty if Tesla continues to be successful. Ok, fine, he loves money. To me that just reveals that he has more obsession with money than changing the auto industry and/or innovating. That's his prerogative.
What the lawyers asking is more than 10% of what would have been Musk's compensation if it wasn't deemed illegal. If the argument was that Musk was getting a little bit more than he deserves, there would be no case. Even if the argument was he is bing paid double of what he deserves, there would be no case. Because these wouldn't worth seeking legal actions. So the numbers had to be considered too big like 10x bigger. In other words I would assume in the eyes of these lawyers Musk should have only be paid max 10% of the approved package. That is for all the work done to make Tesla so successful. For some strange reason, these same lawyers think they deserve the same amount or more. I only have one answer to these greedy hypocrites. Go build build such a successful company, and claim all the rewards you can get.
We see hypocrisy every day. That is kinda a norm in this world. Some of them just make zero sense. This one definitely falls into this category. It will be interesting to see what the judge will decide.
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Apart from outrageous greed on all sides, there are a couple of things that concern me about both the initial case and the aftermath.
For the initial case, Judge McCormick appears to be highly politicised, and it's a concern that she is allowed to preside over two high-profile anti-Musk cases in rapid succession. I also feel there should be some investigation into whether there was any kind of conspiracy between the lawyers and Richard Tornetta (the initial plaintiff, who only actually held a grand total of 9 Tesla shares - was he a setup ?)
It seems wrong that these lawyers want to be rewarded (with such an outrageous amount) before Musk has had the chance to appeal, and also that if the case is upheld it appears to be illegal for Musk to receive any retroactive remuneration package to replace the cancelled one. Sure, he's got plenty of money already, but it still feels wrong that he's penalised by effectively being unpaid for 5 years work !
All of this convinces me that the US justice system is broken in so many ways.
Thanks you for adding this useful information. Everything sounds crazy about this case.
🌄 Good morning (from UTC-7)!☕
Yes, @geekgirl ...
... kind of ... Since COVID rolled over us all, it seems the word "unprecedented" has ... "suddenly" ... become common. Hypocrisy is a sad aspect of life and has always been with us, as a result.
But today?
From the experience base of my long life, I would say the amount of hypocrisy to which we are subjected these days is ... "unprecedented." Welcome to our crazy, "new normal" world ... 😞
Hi Roleerob!
Great to see you. Great choice of words. I agree it is a new normal and definitely unprecedented.
You're very kind @geekgirl. Reminds me of when I first learned of you "in here" and what it meant to me at the time ...
While I don't have much to say usually, watching how well you are doing makes me happy for you. Well deserved / earned!
Is that amount,too much? Is the first question that comes to my mind. If Elon was just any other CEO without a tuck record or 1) consistent success and 2) a visionary with other obligations there wouldn’t be a question. All this is covered is greed and selfish motives on all parties. I think it’s not bad to look at the value Elon brings to the company and the connections he has built over time in his defense. Well? Money is a power on its own and no one man can have all that power!
I knew nothing about this story. Getting paid in TESLA stock could be something that is convenient for both parties. It would certainly be a rather strange or bizarre outcome
Yes I have to agree, his comedy is pretty bad 😄
Flat out greedy as well. This is first I'm hearing of this compensation package. It unfathomable. If he truly cared about Tesla, he would want that money used to further increase the sales of the vehicles. Imagine what $56 billion could do in marketing. Or even half of that. He could literally subsidise the cost of each new car making each more affordable and gain hundreds of thousands of new, long-term Tesla customers...
Oh well, what do I know? 😄
The legal fees are crazy. I think that is absurd and I don't really think they did that much work. It makes me wonder just what their contract was.
If you think the core case was that Musk was "too greedy", I would question your sources of info on this topic. The issue at hand was whether or not the renumeration package was commensurate and whether or not the board making the decision was compromised by their closeness to Musk.
You bring up a good point and I understand it. However, this post wasn't intended to be a legal article of analysis of the case. This was just meant to be a satire.
That said, what I said was just oversimplification of what you have clarified.
Yes, Elon Musk is undoubtedly a visionary for our future, and his intellect is truly extraordinary. Especially with his recent accomplishment with Neuralink, he's pushing boundaries. However, over the last few months, I've been researching his career, and I can't help but wonder about the promises he made years ago. Each year, it seems like there's a similar product with the same technology, just a different design. While I've always been impressed by him, lately, it feels like he's making promises he can't keep, merely taking money from investors and exaggerating his achievements. Take, for instance, his reverse rocket design, it's not entirely his original idea. He's utilizing engines dating back several decades to Soviet Russian times, and the Centaur upper stage relies on RL-10 engines designed in the 1950s. Before people can trust him again and he can make his big ideas happen, he has to fix these problems.
So true. He makes many promises that he fails to deliver, and keeps getting away with that. Part of me thinks he actually believes he can deliver. May be overconfidence on being able to do anything and everything. But it could also be that he is knowingly lying to gain support or attention at various times.
My husband and I argued because he believed Musk was lying and only interested in money from investors. It's unfortunate, but investors still support him. We will soon see what will happen with him and his inventions. Many of his cars still don't function properly, yet the press hides news about burning cars and batteries that don't work in winter. But, maybe his space program will deliver something good. There are actually some good results, but yeah, only time will tell... and money :)
5.6 Billion! That's insane! That's like 5600 millions 😅 how is that justifiable.
What an irony. These same lawyers who thought the compensation package was absurd is now asking thesame absurdity hahaha
Yes, I found it funny as well.
Amazing stuff right?
Let's ya know what the human thing really is, once you peel off the packaging!
I couldn't agree with you more, all the way around!
Wonders will never end people will always be people. Always trying to milk the system they claim to be defending. Greed is at the core of web2 and the world
This is the absolute example of hypocrisy!
Lawyers are the worst people on earth. Well, maybe university professors are worse, but just barely.
Why university professors? I think their dedication to share knowledge is admirable. But arrogance is there for sure. Arrogance comes with PhD.
Sorry for the late reply. InLeo isn't letting me see replies for some reason.
University professors are the scum of the earth. They bully and indoctrinate children with the state religion of Woke all while collecting outrageously high salaries stolen from Americans who actually do productive work.
What?!
I am speechless.
The lawyers are very greedy and it’s bad. I thought lawyers should be reputable and have good behaviors
What kind of greed is this?
They have massive student loans to pay off.
This does not make sense at all. It’s pure bribery. Taking advantage of a situation. At this point I doubt this law firm has business interests because no normal person or institution will approach them with this in the air.
Complete madness. I am pondering on the thought that this is normal with the super rich. But my mind can’t seem to rap itself around this turn of evens
These types of lawyers who represent falsehoods really need to be arrested and dealt with
Great article & spot on about greed, it is everywhere. Even on Hive we have greedy whales who will vote in proposals to pay their friends for useless projects while ignoring projects that could propell Hive forward like hive-tube.com / palmpay.io devs who innovate our space... love to see a popular author like you dive into this subject yet might lose some nice upvote support...
The issue is not that whales vote for family and friends. The issue is lack of networking by the devs and projects. They need to think of their creative and innovate works and initiatives as business. To make this business flourish they need start networking. Many successful companies have two founders, one would be technical and can make magical work, the other would be business minded and would be involved in networking, marketing, and brining in funds and attention to the business.
True yet there is also bullying & sabotage by some toxic ones, as someone banned from several big communities & labeled a spammer for attempting this networking I can testify first hand.
People's faces change rapidly and masks are revealed. The whole world is a world of hypocrisy
Hahahah!!!Funny twists and turns. Suing this bunch of selfish lawyers, would only raise another crop of opportunistic laws here trying exactly what the friends did. Creating a vicious circle of unresolved madness
Professional greed! 🤣
That is a revelation of how the spirit of money works. Greed!
That, indeed, is the height of greed and hypocrisy from the lawyers. But still I hope all is resolved peacefully without putting any financial strain on Elon. He, indeed, is a super visionary and his efforts is helping to make the planet a better place. It gladdens my heart seeing people like him around. They represent hope and a second chance for our planet.
Thanks for writing and have a great day.
Lawyers are really working so hard to make sure things are working out as they plan and expected
It's bad enough Elon got declined on his payment package on what he owns , the Lawyers seeking to make a fortune out of this case are just simply opportunistic and covetous. Everyone doing everything possible to eat their cake and have it , that's the way it is these days.
These lawyers fees are so huge amount. I didn't know about this story. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hypocrites and hypocrisy is everywhere, such a shame.