Tesla pay fight tests power of Elon Musk’s mystique

In 2018, Tesla shareholders approved the biggest pay package in history for Elon Musk. Six years later, will they do it again?

The electric car company will find out this week at its annual meeting, where it is seeking a show of support for the roughly $50bn deal.

The package – worth more than 3,000 times what the top-earning boss in the US made last year – won backing from 73% of shareholders who voted six years ago.

The compensation plan gives Mr Musk rights to roughly 300 million shares – a roughly 10% stake in the firm – as a reward for the firm meeting goals once considered by some as laughable, like becoming a $650bn firm.

But earlier this year, a Delaware judge voided the deal after a small investor sued, ruling that the sum was “unfair” and the process for determining the package, by a board dominated by Mr Musk, was “deeply flawed”.

Instead of backing down, Tesla said it…