Since buying Twitter for $44 billion in October, Musk testified Wednesday in Delaware that the lion’s share of his time “for the past few weeks” has been on the social-media platform, although he stated the “fundamental organizational restructuring” can be accomplished by the top of subsequent week.

Delaware Chancery Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick is listening to proof in a trial to find out whether or not Musk, the world’s richest individual, needs to be pressured to return stock-options awarded beneath the pay bundle to Tesla, the electric-car maker.

Richard Tornetta — who owns 9 shares of Tesla — claims in his lawsuit that the board didn’t train independence from Musk because it drew up a brand new pay bundle for the chief govt officer in 2018. Tornetta stated the board lavished the world’s largest compensation plan on a part-time chief.

In addition to Tesla and Twitter, Musk additionally runs Space Exploration Technologies Corp., an aeronautical start-up; and The Boring Co., a tunneling enterprise; and is concerned in OpenAI and Neuralink. Musk agreed with Tornetta’s lawyer that on the time of his pay deal, he was spending about 54% of his time at Tesla, 36% at SpaceX, 10% on Open AI, Boring and Neuralink.

However, Musk stated questions concerning the cut up between the businesses have been “silly” as a result of he’s targeted on taking “a set of actions that are good for” humanity, whether or not that’s making electrical autos, utilizing expertise to assist folks with paralysis, or establishing a colony on Mars.

1 Million Tons

The billionaire has stated it might take 1 million tons of cargo to construct a self-sustaining metropolis on the planet at a value of as a lot as $10 trillion. Evidence within the Tesla compensation case reveals Musk vowed to make use of cash generated by the 2018 pay plan to fund his dream of a Martian colony.

Tesla administrators have defended the pay settlement as not being marred by conflicts. They declare they weren’t influenced by their ties to Musk and stated the payout motivated the mercurial billionaire to convey his A-game to spur Tesla’s spectacular progress. The firm’s market valuation has jumped from $50 billion to greater than $560 billion over the past 4 years.

Antonio Gracias, a former Tesla director and long-time pal of Musk, testified Wednesday he acted independently in reviewing the 2018 pay plan though he’d vacationed with the entrepreneur through the years. Gracias stated he had a stable relationship with Musk that allowed him to brazenly share his ideas on enterprise points.

“I can say whatever I want” to Musk, Gracias advised McCormick after the CEO had completed testifying. “I don’t pull punches with him.” Other proof offered within the case confirmed Musk additionally vacationed with Tesla director James Murdoch, the son of media baron Rupert Murdoch.

According to Gracias, Musk was by no means required by his compensation plan to spend a sure period of time at Tesla. “He’s not billing by the hour,” Gracias stated. “ That’s not how this works.”

James Murdoch, in testimony Wednesday, joined different board members in praising Musk’s pay bundle as acceptable as a result of it solely kicked in if Tesla hit targets for market worth and manufacturing that have been designed to be troublesome to realize.

Across company American, “you see a lot of payment for failure” in govt compensation, Murdoch stated. Musk benefitted solely after Tesla buyers “got much, much more” from the surge in Tesla shares, he stated.

No Role

During his three hours on the witness stand, Musk claimed he had no function in approving the pay deal, and on the time was targeted as an alternative on fixing the complicated drawback of making a sustainable electric-vehicle firm.

“I do not have any understanding of the internal processes by which this compensation structure was obtained,” Musk stated, including that he by no means mentioned his compensation with board members or dictate the phrases of the deal.

However, court docket filings within the case present the entrepreneur was requested in a textual content by his pal Ira Ehrenpreis, a Tesla board member, on April 8, 2017, about the right way to construction his future compensation. Musk replied that he ought to find yourself “owning 10 percent of the company” in a efficiency plan constructed round a development of targets that might every grant him 1% of Tesla’s excellent shares, filings present.

As Musk later mused to considered one of his co-founders in an electronic mail, he was “planning on something really crazy, but also high risk.”

The case is Tornetta v. Musk, 2018-0408, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington).