Tesla shareholders claim $16.8 billion for abuse of power for personal gain, Musk breaks record for compensation for top executives

Elon Musk was sued by Tesla shareholders for allegedly putting shareholder profits into his own pockets, claiming $2.6 billion (about 16.8 billion RMB). The case will go to court on July 12, and Musk will appear in court in person.

On June 21, 2016, Tesla announced that it had submitted an offer to acquire SolarCity, a comprehensive solar service provider, for approximately $2.6 billion.

Tesla said that the acquisition of SolarCity was intended to provide users with end-to-end clean energy products and provide clean energy for electric vehicles and homes.

However, what is unusual about this acquisition is that SolarCity was founded by Musk and his cousin, and Musk is the largest shareholder and chairman.

In other words, Musk used a listed company to buy his own company and put the shareholders' money into his own pocket.

What is even more questionable to the public is that, although Musk once denied it, the survival situation of solar energy companies is not optimistic due to the decline in solar energy business and the cancellation of subsidies.

Therefore, Tesla shareholders believe that Musk used his influence on Tesla to force the company to save his own bankrupt SolarCity in 2016. And in the acquisition negotiations led by Musk, he did not stay on Tesla's side, not only did he not lower the acquisition price, but raised it.

Although Musk has always been interested in space and new energy, shareholders saw that their investment might be used for personal gain. Therefore, Tesla shareholders took Musk to court.

The case will go to court on July 12 and will last for two weeks. The core issue of the case is whether Musk, who owned a 22% stake in Tesla in 2016, hijacked the board of directors in the decision to acquire SolarCity.

Musk said in court documents that he "avoided" the board meeting on the SolarCity acquisition, that it was shareholders who voted to approve the acquisition as the core of the MasterPlan, Part Deux plan, and that the acquisition was a huge success for Tesla and benefited the company immensely.

However, given that Musk has recently used his huge voice on the Internet and his 57 million Twitter followers to constantly maneuver in the cryptocurrency circle, the public's trust in Musk has been repeatedly overdrawn, and there are different opinions on the fairness of the SolarCity acquisition.

The case also attracted widespread attention because of its compensation amount of US$2.6 billion. There is no precedent for a corporate executive to bear such a huge amount of compensation independently.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.