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Executive Compensation Business Judgment Rule Board of Directors

BCLP

Tesla’s Super-charged Equity Award to Elon Musk Unplugged by Delaware Court Cautionary Tale for Boards and Executives

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The Delaware Chancery Court invalidated a substantial equity award to Elon Musk – the largest in history. It applied the entire fairness test instead of the more deferential business judgment rule, finding that Musk...more

Goodwin

Delaware Court of Chancery Rescinds Elon Musk’s $55.8 Billion Compensation Package in Cautionary Tale About Director Independence...

Goodwin on

On January 30, 2024, the Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery struck down the $55.8 billion compensation plan that Tesla, Inc.’s board of directors had granted to Tesla’s well-known CEO, Elon Musk, finding that the...more

Jones Day

Chancery Court Requires Entire Fairness Review of Tesla CEO Compensation

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The Background: A shareholder challenged an extraordinary and extremely lucrative incentive-based compensation package awarded by Tesla to its chair, CEO, and controlling shareholder, claiming a breach of fiduciary duties. ...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

A Pipe Is Indeed a Pipe: Delaware Court of Chancery Provides Important Guidance to Companies by Dismissing Excessive Director Pay...

On October 30, 2019, the Delaware Court of Chancery struck a major blow against the plaintiffs’ bar’s efforts to lower the statutory hurdle to maintaining stockholder derivative claims. A stockholder of Ultragenyx...more

Dechert LLP

Electricity in the Air: Court Decides that Stockholder Ratification Not Enough to Insulate Tesla CEO’s $55.8 Billion Compensation...

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The Delaware Chancery Court rejected an attempt by Tesla’s Board of Directors to dismiss a challenge to CEO Elon Musk’s “extraordinary” 2018 compensation package. Because Musk is also Tesla’s controlling stockholder, the...more

Mintz - Employment Viewpoints

The Bubbler - July 2019

June was a busy month for state legislators, courts and the President. On May 31, 2019, in Stein v. Blankfein, et al., the Delaware Court of Chancery reaffirmed the Delaware Supreme Court’s holding in In re: Investors...more

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Delaware Court Provides Further Guidance on Stockholder Challenges to Director Compensation

On May 31, 2019, Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock of the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a decision refusing to dismiss a stockholder's fiduciary duty claims challenging the compensation of Goldman Sachs' board of directors.1...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Business Judgment Rule Applies to a Board’s Response to Take “All Necessary Actions”

What legal standard applies to assess a corporate board’s refusal to pursue litigation in response to a shareholder’s demand to take “all necessary actions” to correct alleged director misconduct?...more

Cooley LLP

Alert: Delaware Supreme Court Changes Conversation on Director Compensation

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In recent years, there has been an increase in Delaware breach of fiduciary duty claims (including stockholder demands and actual cases) asserted against public company boards alleging that the directors engaged in...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

SEC Reporting & Compliance and Corporate Governance Series

On February 13, 2018, Skadden hosted a webinar titled “ SEC Reporting & Compliance and Corporate Governance Series: Key Trends in Executive Compensation, Employment Law and Compensation Committee Practices.” Executive...more

Hogan Lovells

New considerations for director compensation awards in light of Delaware Supreme Court's recent decision in In re Investors...

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The subject of director compensation awards has been moving up the corporate governance agenda of many public companies since December 2017. ...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Impact of Compensation-Related Litigation on Public Companies

Compensation-related litigation and threats of litigation continued to significantly impact public companies in 2017. These companies should be mindful of issues that were raised in recent litigation: proxy disclosure,...more

Troutman Pepper

Hot Topic for 2018 Proxy Season: Director Compensation in Wake of New Delaware Supreme Court Ruling

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In an important recent opinion, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled in In re Investors Bancorp, Inc. Stockholder Litigation that certain director compensation decisions would be reviewed under the “entire fairness” standard...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Better Part of Valor: Delaware Supreme Court Rules No Ratification Defense for Director Grants under Discretionary Plans

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What happens when corporate directors approve their own awards under an equity incentive plan? Under Delaware law, so long as the plan is approved by a majority of the fully informed, uncoerced and disinterested stockholders,...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Boards Beware: Delaware Supreme Court Limits Application of Deferential Standard for Reviewing Director Equity Awards

On December 13, 2017, the Delaware Supreme Court issued an opinion, In re Investors Bancorp, Inc. Stockholder Litigation, Case No. 169, holding that, except under limited circumstances, the court will not apply the...more

Mintz - Employment Viewpoints

Another Reminder that Director Limits set forth in Equity Plans Allow Director Compensation to be Reviewed under the more Lenient...

Earlier this month, in In re Investors Bancorp, Inc. Stockholders Litigation, the Delaware Court of Chancery reiterated its view that placing a meaningful limit on director equity awards to be granted under a stockholder...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

"Director Compensation in the Spotlight"

Individuals serving on company boards of directors should carefully examine director compensation programs and decisions involving their own compensation following an April 30, 2015, ruling by the Delaware Court of Chancery....more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Good News for Compensation Committees

With executive compensation under fire from seemingly all directions these days, it’s nice to get some good news occasionally. In this case, that news comes via the Delaware Chancery Court’s recent decision in Friedman v....more

Allen Matkins

No Calm In Delaware After Calma v. Templeton

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In derivative suits, cases are essentially lost and won at the motion to dismiss stage.  Unless the defendants succeed in winning dismissal, they must confront an unhappy choice between continued litigation with all of its...more

McCarter & English, LLP

A Key Reminder to Directors of Delaware Corporations When Granting Equity Awards under an Equity Incentive Plan

Corporate directors routinely make decisions regarding their own compensation. If challenged by stockholders, such decisions are generally reviewed by Delaware courts under the onerous "entire fairness" standard, which...more

Butler Snow LLP

Less Is More? Not when it comes to director compensation plans and effective shareholder ratification

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Companies cannot merely rely upon shareholder approval to obtain protection under the business judgment rule. While the courts in Delaware do frequently apply the standard of waste to claims of breach of fiduciary duty and...more

Jackson Walker

Navigating Fiduciary Duties In Private Company Mergers And Acquisitions

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I. Introduction. The conduct of corporate directors and officers is subject to particular scrutiny in the context of business combinations (whether friendly or hostile), executive compensation and other affiliated...more

Dechert LLP

Defending Section 162(m) Executive Compensation Derivative Suits in the United States

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Decisions regarding executive compensation fall squarely within the discretion of a public company’s board of directors. Recently, however, plaintiffs’ firms have been trying to invade the board’s purview by bringing...more

Snell & Wilmer

Lessons Learned in 2012

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As one calendar year ends and the next begins, it is natural to look back to take an inventory of lessons learned and to look forward in an attempt to implement such lessons. The year 2012 certainly had its fair share of...more

Snell & Wilmer

Delaware Law Update — Delaware Court Applies Heightened Scrutiny to Director Compensation

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In an era of intense investor scrutiny and SEC rulemaking regarding executive compensation, a recent decision by the Delaware Court of Chancery raises questions as to the protections afforded to directors when granting...more

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