News & Analysis as of

Board of Directors Controlling Stockholders Executive Compensation

ArentFox Schiff

Delaware’s New Approach To Interested Director and Minority Stockholder Protections

ArentFox Schiff on

On March 25, Delaware governor, Matt Meyer, signed into law Substitute 1 to Senate Bill 21 (SB 21), following its rapid approval by the Delaware state legislature. This legislative measure aims to counter the current trend of...more

Morris James LLP

Chancery Dismisses Executive Compensation Action For Failure To Plead Demand Futility

Morris James LLP on

Eckert v. Hightower, C.A. No. 2024-0569-MTZ (Del. Ch. Mar. 24, 2025) - A board of directors approved compensation packages for the company’s CEO, who also was its controlling stockholder. The CEO was a member of the...more

Fox Rothschild LLP

Stopping ‘Dexit': Delaware Makes Significant Changes to Its General Corporation Law

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In an effort to maintain its status as the leading state for incorporation, Delaware has made historic and significant changes to its General Corporation Law (DGCL) that make it more difficult for shareholders to challenge...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Insights: The Delaware Edition - December 2024

In this issue, we explore ongoing corporate law issues involving controlling stockholders, with significant decisions anticipated from the Delaware Supreme Court in 2025; the rise in litigation over earnout provisions in...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

2025 Outlook: Key Delaware Court Appeals and Their Impact on Corporate Law

In 2024, Delaware courts continued to address important areas of corporate law, particularly regarding controlling stockholders. Several of those high-profile decisions were decided at the trial level and are now on appeal....more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Corporate Governance Takeaways Following Rescission of Elon Musk’s $55.8 Billion Equity Compensation Package

“Was the richest person in the world overpaid?” That’s how the Delaware Court of Chancery (the Court) began the 200-page opinion in Tornetta v. Musk to rescind Elon Musk’s entire $55.8 billion 10-year equity compensation...more

Jones Day

Delaware Court Applies Traditional Entire Fairness Standard to Very Large Stockholder-Approved, Performance-Based Equity Award

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The Case: A Tesla stockholder sued Tesla's board of directors to rescind a performance-based stock option grant awarded to Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO. The option award was worth a total of $56 billion and offered the opportunity...more

A&O Shearman

Was the richest person in the world overpaid?

A&O Shearman on

Chancellor Kathleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery grappled with this question in a recent derivative lawsuit challenging Tesla’s performance-based equity award with a potential USD55.8 billion maximum value and...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Out of Control! What the Elon Musk Compensation Case Reminds Us about Transactions with Controlling Stockholders

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

Process still matters.  That’s the main takeaway from the Delaware Court of Chancery’s 200-page opinion striking down Tesla’s 2018 incentive package awarded to Elon Musk.  The court rescinded the incentive package mainly...more

Moore & Van Allen PLLC

Directors and executives take note: Delaware court voids Elon Musk’s $55B Tesla pay package

”Was the richest person in the world overpaid?” That is the question that the Delaware Court of Chancery answered in its Jan. 30, 2024, decision in the shareholder derivative action Tornetta v. Musk, et al., C.A. No....more

Goodwin

Delaware Court of Chancery Rescinds Elon Musk’s $55.8 Billion Compensation Package in Cautionary Tale About Director Independence...

Goodwin on

On January 30, 2024, the Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery struck down the $55.8 billion compensation plan that Tesla, Inc.’s board of directors had granted to Tesla’s well-known CEO, Elon Musk, finding that the...more

Morris James LLP

Delaware Supreme Court Clarifies Materiality Standard for Director Disclosure

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A plaintiff challenging a merger when a majority of the board approving the transaction is disinterested and independent and there is no controlling stockholder on both sides cannot state a cognizable claim of breach of...more

Jones Day

Chancery Court Requires Entire Fairness Review of Tesla CEO Compensation

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The Background: A shareholder challenged an extraordinary and extremely lucrative incentive-based compensation package awarded by Tesla to its chair, CEO, and controlling shareholder, claiming a breach of fiduciary duties. ...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

A Pipe Is Indeed a Pipe: Delaware Court of Chancery Provides Important Guidance to Companies by Dismissing Excessive Director Pay...

On October 30, 2019, the Delaware Court of Chancery struck a major blow against the plaintiffs’ bar’s efforts to lower the statutory hurdle to maintaining stockholder derivative claims. A stockholder of Ultragenyx...more

Stinson - Corporate & Securities Law Blog

Delaware Reaffirms Entire Fairness Standard for Review of Director Compensation

Quoting both a nearly 70-year-old decision and a nearly 30-year-old SNL skit, the Delaware Court of Chancery, in Stein v. Blankfein et al, reaffirmed that in most circumstances decisions of directors awarding director...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Better Part of Valor: Delaware Supreme Court Rules No Ratification Defense for Director Grants under Discretionary Plans

Farrell Fritz, P.C. on

What happens when corporate directors approve their own awards under an equity incentive plan? Under Delaware law, so long as the plan is approved by a majority of the fully informed, uncoerced and disinterested stockholders,...more

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