Elon Musk to testify in trial over $56bn Tesla pay package

Chief executive faces shareholder challenge over his package at electric vehicle company

Elon Musk arrives at the Baron Investment Conference at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, on November 4. AP

Mr Musk in Manhattan, New York City, on November 4. Reuters

Mr Musk appears online at the B20 Summit as part of the G20 dialogue in Nusa Dua, Bali, on November 14. AFP

After months of negotiations, Mr Musk finally bought Twitter on October 27. AFP

The billionaire took control of microblogging platform and fired its top executives, including chief executive Parag Agrawal, left, as well as the company's chief financial officer and its head of legal policy, trust and safety. AFP

Mr Musk entering Twitter headquarters carrying a sink through the lobby area on October 26. AP

Mr Musk and his children Damian, Kai, Saxon and Griffin met Pope Francis in July at the Vatican. AFP

Mr Musk speaks by video in June to the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha. Bloomberg

Mr Musk answers questions at the Qatar Economic Forum. Bloomberg

Mr Musk arrives at the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in May. Reuters

Mr Musk and his mother Maye Musk arrive at the Met Gala in May. AFP

Mother and son pose and laugh on the Met Gala red carpet. EPA

Mr Musk waves at the Met Gala. Reuters

Mr Musk joins in online at the 'Financial Times' Future of the Car Summit in May. Financial Times

Mr Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, in March. Reuters

Mr Musk at the Tesla factory in Berlin, Germany, in March. AP

Mr Musk speaks at SpaceX's Starbase centre in South Texas in February. AFP

The entrepreneur shakes hands with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Porto Feliz, Brazil, in May. AP

Mr Bolsonaro and Mr Musk greet each other in Sao Paulo. Reuters

Indonesian President Joko Widodo meets Mr Musk at the SpaceX launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, in May. Reuters

Mr Musk shows Mr Widodo his mobile phone during a tour of the SpaceX launch site in Texas. Reuters

A US trial over Elon Musk's disputed $59 billion pay at Tesla began on Monday, with the world's richest person expected to take the stand this week.

A Tesla shareholder alleges Mr Musk unfairly dictated the terms of his compensation package and set easily reached performance targets.

They claimed that investors were duped into approving it. Under the deal, Mr Musk did not even have to work at Tesla full-time.

The pay packet is six times larger than the top 200 CEO salaries combined in 2021, said Amit Batish of research firm Equilar.

Mr Musk is expected to testify on Wednesday for the trial taking place in Wilmington, Delaware.

The trial began with Ira Ehrenpreis, a Tesla board member since 2007 and chair of the committee that oversaw the pay package, describing the process to develop the record-breaking deal.

"I wanted to make sure that Elon remained as the leader of Tesla over a longer period of time," Mr Ehrenpreis testified.

The lawsuit states his pay package should have required Mr Musk to work full-time at Tesla.

Shareholders are worried he is becoming increasingly distracted by his newly acquired Twitter.

Referring to the many pressures Mr Musk is under as he leads Tesla, Twitter, SpaceX and other businesses, he said on Monday that he "has too much work" on his plate.

A decision will probably take about three months after the trial, and an appeal against the verdict could be lodged at the Delaware Supreme Court.

Agencies contributed to this report

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