Tesla CEO Elon Musk lost his bid to reinstate his 2018 CEO pay package on Monday when a Delaware judge upheld her earlier ruling that the compensation plan was improperly awarded.

The package, worth about $56 billion, was the largest compensation plan in U.S. history for an executive of a publicly traded company. Tesla said in a post

In January, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick revoked the pay plan, ruling that Musk had individually “controlled” Tesla and dictated the terms of his compensation to a board that did not negotiate fairly. She called the process that led to the approval of that pay plan “deeply flawed.”

Following the statement, Tesla held a shareholder vote at its annual meeting in Austin, Texas in June 2024, asking investors to “ratify” Musk’s 2018 CEO compensation plan. Musk’s lawyers tried to get the judge to change her mind after the trial, relying on the results of that vote.

McCormick wrote in her opinion Monday: “Even if a shareholder vote could have a ratifying effect, it could not do so here.” She added: “If the court condoned the practice of allowing losing parties to create new facts To revise judgments, the lawsuits would become endless.”

As part of Monday’s statement, McCormick approved a $345 million attorney’s fee for the attorneys who successfully sued on behalf of Tesla shareholders to overturn Musk’s pay plan.

“We are pleased with Chancellor McCormick’s decision declining Tesla’s invitation to bring further uncertainty to the legal process, and we thank the Chancellor and her staff for their exceptionally hard work in overseeing this complex case,” the attorneys said von Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger & Grossmann The firm representing the plaintiff said in a statement.

After the January decision, Musk criticized the Delaware court’s post on

Musk also moved the founding state of his defense company SpaceX from Delaware to Texas.

Despite the legal setback, Musk has seen a significant increase in his net worth in recent weeks. Excluding all options included in the pay package, Musk is more than $43 billion richer since Donald Trump’s election victory last month. Tesla shares have risen 42% in the four weeks since the election on optimism that Musk’s friendliness toward the new president will lead to policies favorable to his companies.

The Tesla stock Musk still holds is worth nearly $150 billion based on Monday’s closing price. That alone, without taking into account his SpaceX stake, would make him one of the richest people in the world. Equilar estimates that Musk’s 2018 package would have been worth $101.4 billion at today’s share price.