For seven years, a landmark legal struggle over executive compensation has unfolded in the Delaware court system, centering on what is potentially the most significant pay package ever devised. This high-stakes battle involved not just any remuneration plan, but one that held the potential to dramatically alter Elon Musk’s fortunes by hundreds of billions of dollars.

This week marked the conclusion of this epic legal saga. The Delaware Supreme Court issued a ruling that dramatically boosted Elon Musk’s net worth overnight.

The court’s decision to reinstate Musk’s 2018 Tesla stock option package sent his personal wealth soaring from an estimated $650 billion to around $750 billion, making him the world’s first quarter-trillionaire by a staggering margin. No individual in recorded history has ever amassed such a fortune.

(Photo by Theo Wargo/WireImage)

The 2018 Tesla Pay Plan That Started It All

Back in early 2018, Tesla’s board approved what was then regarded as an unprecedented compensation plan for its CEO. The terms were bold and unconventional: Musk would forgo a salary, cash bonuses, and guaranteed equity. Instead, his reward would come in the form of stock options, contingent upon Tesla hitting a series of highly ambitious operational and market capitalization targets.

At that time, Tesla’s market value was approximately $50 billion. The compensation plan set forth twelve escalating goals related to revenue, profitability, and market cap achievements. The most challenging of these required Tesla to reach a valuation of $650 billion, a figure that seemed almost unattainable in 2018.

Under the plan, Musk stood to gain nothing if he failed to meet these benchmarks. However, success would grant him the opportunity to purchase tens of millions of shares at a significantly reduced price, potentially leading to the largest payday ever seen in corporate history.

Over the next several years, Musk did something few believed possible. Tesla didn’t just meet the goals. It obliterated them. The company became one of the most valuable automakers in the world, then one of the most valuable companies of any kind. By 2021, every single milestone in the 2018 plan had been achieved.

On paper, Musk had earned the full award.

The Judge Who Blew It Up

In January 2024, everything changed.

Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick ruled that the 2018 compensation package should be voided entirely. Her reasoning centered on governance and process, not performance. The ruling found that Musk exercised outsized influence over Tesla’s board, that several directors had conflicts of interest, and that shareholders were not fully informed when they approved the plan.

The decision was extraordinary. Never before had a court completely rescinded a compensation plan after the executive had already fulfilled every requirement.

Overnight, Musk’s options were frozen. For net worth trackers, including CelebrityNetWorth and Forbes, the value of the package was either removed entirely or heavily discounted. Musk’s fortune dropped by well over $100 billion on paper, despite Tesla continuing to operate exactly as it had the day before.

What followed was a bitter, highly public legal and political war.

Seven Years Of Legal Warfare And A Delaware Backlash

Musk appealed the decision, while simultaneously launching a public campaign against Delaware’s corporate courts. He accused the state of being hostile to entrepreneurs and controlling shareholders. Tesla ultimately moved its incorporation from Delaware to Texas. SpaceX and other Musk-controlled entities followed suit.

Behind the scenes, Delaware lawmakers moved to update corporate statutes in an effort to stem the growing risk of companies fleeing the state en masse. The implications went far beyond Tesla. Delaware is the legal home of more than 60% of Fortune 500 companies and generates billions annually in incorporation fees.

For nearly two years, the 2018 pay package remained in limbo as the case worked its way up to the Delaware Supreme Court.

The Ruling That Changed Everything

This week, the Delaware Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that reversed the most financially devastating part of the lower court’s ruling.

While the justices agreed that Tesla’s board was riddled with conflicts, they ruled that canceling Musk’s entire compensation package was an improper remedy. The court concluded that rescission left Musk effectively uncompensated for six years of work, despite the fact that Tesla and its shareholders were massively rewarded during that period.

In plain English, the court said Musk earned the pay and wiping it out entirely went too far.

The result was immediate and staggering.

Musk’s 2018 options, now worth roughly $139 billion, snapped back onto his balance sheet. Net worth models that had been discounting or excluding the award were forced to instantly reprice his fortune.

From $650 Billion To $750 Billion Overnight

Before the ruling, Musk’s net worth hovered around $650 billion, driven primarily by his stakes in Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, and other ventures. The reinstatement of the 2018 options alone added roughly $100 billion in net value after accounting for strike prices and taxes.

With the stroke of a pen, that single legal decision propelled Elon Musk’s net worth to $750 billion.

To put that number in perspective, the second-richest person in the world is worth roughly $250 billion. Musk is now richer than the next three or four people combined. His fortune is larger than the GDP of many countries. It is nearly inconceivable on a human scale.

And perhaps most astonishingly, this may not even be the peak.

Tesla shareholders have already approved an entirely separate performance-based compensation plan that could eventually be worth close to $1 trillion if Musk hits a new set of extreme long-term targets tied to AI, robotics, and autonomous vehicles. Meanwhile, SpaceX is reportedly preparing for a 2026 IPO at a valuation that could approach $1.5 trillion.

The Era Of The Quarter-Trillionaire

For decades, the idea of a trillionaire sounded like science fiction. A $100 billion fortune once felt impossible. Then $200 billion. Then $300 billion. Just last week, Elon became the first person in history to reach $600 billion.

Now we are talking about a $750 billion personal net worth as a real, documented number attached to a single individual.

Elon Musk is no longer just the richest person in the world. He is the richest human being who has ever lived by an almost absurd margin. And thanks to a courtroom in Delaware, that gap just widened dramatically.

The era of the quarter-trillionaire has arrived. And whether anyone likes it or not, the trillionaire era suddenly feels a lot closer than it did a few days ago.