Elon Musk is appealing the dispute over a billion-dollar share package

The dispute over Tesla shares currently worth more than $100 billion for company boss Elon Musk is entering the next round. The tech billionaire appealed against a judge’s ruling in the US state of Delaware that denied him the package. The Delaware Supreme Court will now deal with the case, as the financial service Bloomberg reported.

About a year ago, after a shareholder lawsuit, the judge ruled that the allocation of the package was not legal. Musk had too much influence in the background in negotiations with the electric car manufacturer’s board of directors – and this was kept secret from the shareholders, she argued.

The case took an unusual turn after Tesla shareholders approved the package again at a general meeting in June – this time apparently with more information simply because of the sensational process. However, the judge stood by her rejection.

Musk has now moved Tesla’s official headquarters from Delaware to Texas – but this has no impact on the 2018 package. The compensation plan at the time granted Musk the right to gradually acquire a good 300 million Tesla shares at the 2018 price if the company met ambitious goals over a period of up to ten years. Tesla hit the targets much faster.

The compensation plan was originally valued at $2.6 billion. At the time of the judge’s first decision, the package was already worth 56 billion.

In recent months, the price of Tesla shares has risen again rapidly because investors assume that the car manufacturer will benefit from Musk’s proximity to the future US President Donald Trump. Thanks to his current holding, Musk is by far the richest person in the world. Bloomberg currently estimates his fortune at $426 billion.