The Fight Over Elon Musk’s $56 Billion Pay Package | Lawrence Fossi

It’s been three years since we last devoted an episode to the electric car company Telsa and its superstar CEO, Elon Musk. Given the progress that’s been made in EVs in the years since, as well as the recent turmoil at Tesla, Demetri thought it would be a good time to check in on how things are going at America’s largest electric car manufacturer.

Demetri’s conversation with Lawrence revolves around a recent ruling in a 2018 shareholder lawsuit brought against Musk and members of the Tesla board over a pay package worth up to $56 billion. While the details of the lawsuit are especially relevant to Tesla shareholders—and you may be one of them if you’re invested in one of the many index funds that own Tesla shares—the spectacle of egregiously excessive executive compensation and the failure of captured boards to exercise fiduciary oversight is part of an alarming trend of corporate corruption that concerns everyone.


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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas

Episode Recorded on 05/21/2024

[QTRResearch]

Surgical, razor sharp, devastating analysis.

[togoni]

Lawrence sounds a bit like Ronald Reagan. ✌✌

[nidog]

This was outstanding interview. Thank. You

[mbican]

TSLA price increased by 20x since the compensation plan, Elon wouldn't get anything if the price didn't go up. So he totally deserves to work for free for the past 5 years. Who wouldn't work for free creating hundreds of billions in value for shareholders?

[omnipetsolutions]

All made sense when it was disclosed Musk tried to get him fired…also sounds like a disgruntled short seller. Great interview as always from Demetri.

[davebarbetta]

A very one-sided discussion, it would have been better to include counterarguments rather than all this straw manning.

[garymccraner]

The facts, for the most part, are not in dispute. The problem is this guy sounds miserable.

[Julian-pjzi]

I don't really know much about Tesla or EVs in general, but I'm sure I've seen very impressive looking videos on YouTube from Tesla drivers, showing off the latest FSD. and i know James from Invest Answers says his Tesla with FSD drives him everywhere with basically no or little intervention from him. So what's the actual truth here? Do the cars with the latest FSD 12 (or whatever version it is now) drive themselves or not?

[florianbuerzle]

Hopefully this compensation package will fail. Giving Musk stock options worth more than Tesla has ever made in profits would be economically insane. But I'm not very optimistic about that, as it seems to be a typical symptom of our "post-modern" economy - valuing the market cap far more than the fundamentals of a company. What worries me most is not the irrationality of retail investors in this regard - they've always been irrational. It's the irrationality of corporate investors that I don't understand, of which Tesla is just one example, others being "platform companies" such as Uber, Airbnb or WeWork. It seems that sustainable business models are no longer a primary concern for investors.

[iansean]

The level of contempt this guy has for Elon is hilarious.
"Nooo! You're doing capitalism wrong Elon! That's not sound board governance! That's not fair!"
If you don't like the stock, just don't buy it.

[timbartlett]

Instead of being discontent…
Start your own business…it’s coming out…it’s his ambition and his idea …crybaby

[selfretired]

"Blatant lies. I don't understand the psychology of it." - Politics in 2024

[selfretired]

"In terms of an entire Fairness Analysis, no one at Tesla ever asked this question (no one the board): Why does Elon Musk need more motivation when he already owns 21.9% of the company? There'sno good answer to this question."

The "good answer" to his speculative question seems obvious: because they didn't see it as "motivation" but "compensation for added effort" and they felt compensated enough for their own contribution/effort.

This guy is definitely an attorney... Creating scenarios and arguing them into his own reality and asking others to justify why he conjurs up such things.

[macros]

Elon did the impossible. He deserves his bonus.

[selfretired]

"Imagine you're on the board"
"Here's what you might say"
(Leading the witness)
"We did this but didn't do that"
(Assuming the entire Board of a major Corporation is ignorant)

Let's ask ourselves why this attorney feels the need to put down the Board of a company over and over and blame entire scenarios on one individual. He has a personal ego issue with Elon. He's probably better at lying than accepting "not all companies operate the same... not all companies conform to political rules=lies"

[gerritjanboeve]

Great interview. Hope musk doesn't get a single cent.

[mohammadwasilliterate]

*This guy is full of crap FSD can now drive from your garge to the car park at a shopping centre parking itself, parralel parking, smart summon and banish happening.* 😂😂😂😂

[mohammadwasilliterate]

*Tesla China is NOT THE MAJORITY OF TESLA IT'S 30% this guy is a complete LIAR* 😂😂😂😂