The world has its first seven-hundred-billionaire. In a ruling that will reshape the conversation around executive compensation for decades to come, the Delaware Supreme Court has reversed an earlier decision and restored Elon Musk's historic Tesla pay package, adding approximately $139 billion to his already astronomical net worth and pushing it above $700 billion.

The decision, handed down on December 19, 2025, overturned Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen McCormick's January 2024 ruling that had voided the 2018 compensation agreement. McCormick had famously called the package "an unfathomable sum" and ruled that Tesla's board had failed in its fiduciary duty to shareholders by approving such generous terms.

The Supreme Court's Reasoning

The Delaware Supreme Court disagreed with virtually every aspect of the lower court's analysis. In its opinion, the court stated that tossing out the 2018 pay package was "inequitable" and that doing so "leaves Musk uncompensated for his time and efforts over a period of six years."

The court found that the lower court had applied an inappropriately stringent standard when evaluating whether Tesla's board acted independently. It noted that the shareholders who approved the package in 2018—and again in 2024 through a ratification vote—were fully informed of its terms and the potential dilution to their holdings.

"The business judgment of Tesla's shareholders, expressed twice through overwhelming votes, deserves more deference than the Chancery Court afforded it."

— Delaware Supreme Court Opinion

What the Package Actually Entails

The compensation package, structured entirely as stock options, was designed in 2018 to incentivize Musk to grow Tesla from a roughly $50 billion company to one worth $650 billion. At the time, many Wall Street analysts considered these targets laughably unrealistic. Tesla's market capitalization now exceeds $1.5 trillion.

The package awarded Musk options to purchase 303 million split-adjusted Tesla shares at exercise prices that now represent a massive discount to current trading levels. When the package was approved, Tesla stock traded at the equivalent of about $23 per share after adjusting for subsequent splits. Today, shares trade above $450.

The original value of the options at vesting was approximately $56 billion. But Tesla's continued appreciation has pushed the current value to approximately $139 billion—a figure that would make this single compensation package larger than the entire market capitalization of all but about 30 companies in the S&P 500.

A Wealth Level Without Precedent

The restoration of the pay package has pushed Musk's net worth to approximately $749 billion according to Forbes' real-time billionaires tracker, though the Bloomberg Billionaires Index places it slightly lower at around $717 billion. Either figure represents uncharted territory in human wealth accumulation.

To put this in perspective, Musk is now worth more than the next two wealthiest people combined. His fortune exceeds the annual GDP of all but about 20 countries. If his wealth were a publicly traded company, it would rank among the 15 largest in the S&P 500.

The concentration of such wealth in a single individual has reignited debates about income inequality, corporate governance, and the structure of executive compensation in American capitalism.

The Path to $700 Billion

Musk's wealth has been built primarily through three companies: Tesla, SpaceX, and the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The composition breaks down roughly as follows:

  • Tesla holdings: Approximately $450 billion, including the restored options package
  • SpaceX stake: Estimated at $180 billion based on recent private market transactions
  • X and other ventures: Approximately $30-40 billion
  • Cash and other assets: Estimated at $40-50 billion

What This Means for Corporate Governance

The Delaware Supreme Court's ruling will have far-reaching implications for how boards structure executive compensation going forward. The decision suggests that courts will be more deferential to shareholder-approved pay packages, even when those packages involve sums that might appear excessive to outside observers.

However, corporate governance experts note that the ruling doesn't give boards carte blanche. The court emphasized the importance of full disclosure to shareholders and the fact that Musk's package was entirely performance-based with no guaranteed payout.

"This ruling tells boards that if you're going to approve an aggressive compensation package, make sure it's tied to aggressive performance targets and fully disclosed," said Charles Elson, founding director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. "The shareholders have to understand exactly what they're approving."

The Shareholder Perspective

For Tesla shareholders who have held their positions since 2018, the Musk pay package has been a spectacular success—even accounting for the dilution. Tesla's stock has risen more than 1,900% since the compensation plan was first approved, turning a $10,000 investment into nearly $200,000.

Institutional investors remain divided on whether such concentrated payouts to a single executive represent sound governance. Several large pension funds voted against ratifying the package in 2024, citing concerns about precedent-setting and the message it sends about executive pay more broadly.

Looking Forward

With his legal battle in Delaware concluded, Musk can now focus on his various business ventures and his role in the incoming administration, where he has been tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.

Whether his fortune continues to grow will depend heavily on Tesla's ability to maintain its dominant position in the electric vehicle market amid intensifying competition, SpaceX's continued success in both government and commercial launch markets, and the trajectory of his more speculative ventures including Neuralink and The Boring Company.

One thing seems certain: the era of the hundred-billionaire has given way to something new entirely. Elon Musk hasn't just broken through the $700 billion barrier—he's redefined what individual wealth accumulation can look like in the 21st century.