Elon Musk becomes first person worth US$700 billion following pay package ruling

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk's net worth surged to US$749 billion (HK$5.84 trillion) late Friday after the Delaware Supreme Court reinstated Tesla stock options worth US$139 billion that were voided last year, according to Forbes' billionaires index.

Musk's 2018 pay package, once worth US$56 billion, was restored by the Delaware Supreme Court on Friday, two years after a lower court struck down the compensation deal as "unfathomable."

The Supreme Court said that a 2024 ruling that rescinded the pay package had been improper and inequitable to Musk.

Earlier this week, Musk became the first person ever to surpass US$600 billion in net worth on the heels of reports that his aerospace startup SpaceX was likely to go public.

In November, Tesla shareholders separately approved a US$1 trillion pay plan for Musk, the largest corporate pay package in history, as investors endorsed his vision of morphing the EV maker into an AI and robotics juggernaut.

Musk's fortune now exceeds that of Google co-founder Larry Page, the world’s second-richest person, by nearly US$500 billion, according to Forbes' billionaires list.

Reuters