Elon Musk is apparently thinking about a successor plan for the electric car manufacturer Tesla, which he manages. That came out now in a court case in the US state of Delaware, which revolves around Musk’s salary package. James Murdoch, a member of Tesla’s board of directors, said on the witness stand that Musk had identified a person to succeed him as CEO over the past few months. Murdoch did not say who it was, he also left open how specific any talks about a change in leadership had become. However, the statement suggests that Musk is thinking about a successor plan.
Musk is currently not only CEO of Tesla, but also of space company SpaceX. He is also currently running the online platform Twitter, which he bought a few weeks ago. Musk has now taken the stand himself at the trial and said he currently spends most of his time on Twitter. However, he expects that to change and wants to find someone else to run Twitter.
The lawsuit, which is being heard in Delaware, was filed by a shareholder who says the pay package Musk was given by Tesla in 2018 was excessive. Musk doesn’t get a base salary or bonus payments, but he does get a large number of stock options linked to the achievement of certain market cap milestones or other metrics such as sales and earnings. Most of the milestones have now been reached, which has helped Musk become the richest person in the world.
