The ruling against Musk’s $55 billion compensation sets a bad precedent

Should a Delaware judge’s decision to deny Tesla CEO Elon Musk a $55 billion compensation package stand, it could establish a troubling precedent. The potential fallout might compromise the efficacy of performance pay plans, which are integral for aligning employees’ incentives with organizational goals.

A cornerstone of any performance pay plan is trust, specifically the assurance that conditions and expectations won’t change after the fact. But Delaware Chancery Court Chief Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick appears to challenge this principle in her 200-page ruling. Musk has a 30-day window to appeal. READ MORE

CEO, CFO compensation clawback helps tech firm skirt SEC fine

Throughout the relevant period, Cloopen didn’t have adequate internal accounting controls and company policies and procedures in place to ensure that revenues from sales transactions were accurately recorded and reported in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, the SEC found.

The company was charged with violating antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as well as reporting, recordkeeping, and internal controls provisions of federal securities laws, according to the order. READ MORE

Musk Case Lays Blueprint for Companies to Safeguard Executive Pay

The blockbuster decision rescinding Elon Musk’s nearly $56 billion compensation plan at Tesla Inc. relates to an extraordinary amount of consideration paid to a superstar, billionaire CEO. But the case also offers important lessons for boards and compensation committees beyond the specific context.

In Tornetta v. Musk, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a post-trial decision Jan. 30 ruling that the directors of Tesla breached their fiduciary duties when, in 2018, they adopted a $55.8 billion 10-year equity-based compensation plan for Musk, Tesla’s CEO. The plan was 250 times larger than the contemporaneous median peer compensation plan and over 33 times larger than the plan’s closest comparison (Musk’s prior compensation plan). READ MORE

Out of Control! What the Elon Musk Compensation Case Reminds Us about Transactions with Controlling Stockholders

Process still matters.  That’s the main takeaway from the Delaware Court of Chancery’s 200-page opinion striking down Tesla’s 2018 incentive package awarded to Elon Musk.  The court rescinded the incentive package mainly because Musk was found to control Tesla and the process, the directors authorizing the package were not independent and the stockholder vote approving it was not properly informed.  The ruling is a stark reminder of the importance of both director independence and an informed stockholder vote when transacting with a control stockholder. READ MORE

Why did Tim Cook’s pay package hold up in court while Elon’s failed?

Just a week after Elon Musk’s $55 billion Tesla payday was struck down by a Delaware judge, a New York court dismissed a challenge to Apple CEO Tim Cook’s compensation package, which clocked in at under $100 million. Some coincidence.

At face value, the two cases seem to have a lot in common. Both were shareholder suits waged against some of the highest-paid superstar tech CEOs in the world. And both were filed amid a backdrop of increased public scrutiny over executive compensation in recent years, which is near all-time highs across S&P 500 companies. READ MORE

14 Technology Jobs That Pay the Most

Which tech roles pay the most? Dice’s latest edition of the Tech Salary Report breaks down which types of engineers, managers, and other specialists earn more than the average tech professional.

As with past years, the top tech occupations by salary had one big thing in common: they were either leadership positions (CEO, CIO, CTO) or tasked with guiding companies through big projects and digital transformation (solutions architect, principal software engineer, program analyst). In other words, companies are still willing to pay top dollar to tech professionals who can use their combination of technical and soft skills to guide teams in driving significant change. Here’s the breakdown from the Report: READ MORE

Why Elon Musk’s ‘self-driving’ of Tesla’s board and its decision to pay him $56B collided with the law – and what happens next

No CEO of a publicly traded U.S. company has ever been paid this much for one year’s work, according to Equilar, which tracks corporate leadership data. Pay for the 10 highest-paid executives, including Google’s Sundar Pichai and Apple’s Tim Cook, reportedly maxed out at around $250 million in 2022. READ MORE

The Rise of the Nonqualified Deferred Compensation (NQDC) Plan

Nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) retirement plans are becoming more popular than ever in response to ongoing labor challenges.

Many companies offer NQDC plans as a retirement benefit for executive-level employees because IRS contribution limits make 401(k) plans inadequate on their own for many high earners. NQDC plans allow these high-earning employees to set aside more of their income to receive at a later date while also deferring the income tax on those earnings. READ MORE

How To Build Your First Compensation Strategy: 5 Straightforward Steps

Without an overarching strategy, early-stage companies tend to make decisions around salaries and job titles as and when they’re needed. Just like many early-stage decisions, this makes sense short term, but builds up a level of “compensation debt” that will eventually need to be unwound—and that’s harder to do later down the line.

Below is a straightforward process for building a simple, consistent, equitable compensation strategy that even relatively early-stage companies can adopt. READ MORE

‘WHOPPER!’ CNBC Anchor Stunned Over Hot New Jobs Report — ‘HUGE JUMP’ In Pay

CNBC anchor Rick Santelli gushed over a January jobs report that he described as a “WHOPPER” that blew away expectations and featured a “HUGE jump” in average hourly wages.

On Friday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a January jobs report that saw 353,000 jobs added, well above expectations READ MORE

Here's the average salary each generation says they need to feel 'financially healthy

Almost 4 in 10 Americans say they feel “financially unhealthy,” as prices remain high after a year of record-breaking inflation. However, how much you think you need to get financially well may depend more on what year you were born than how much is sitting in your bank account.

Gen Z says they require an average salary of $171,633 to feel financially healthy — the highest income compared to older generations, like baby boomers at $78,317 — according to a survey from personal finance company Personal Capital and retirement plan provider Empower, conducted by The Harris Poll. READ MORE

Are Tech Pros Happy with Pay?

Tech salaries have leveled off—and tech professionals aren’t happy about it, according to Dice’s latest Tech Salary Report. In 2022, 30 percent of tech professionals reported that they were either very dissatisfied or somewhat dissatisfied with their salaries; in 2023, that percentage increased to 35 percent.

Some reasons for that unhappiness are obvious. Although certain specialized skills saw a notable increase in average compensation last year (especially skills related to cloud and data infrastructure/analytics), significantly more tech professionals (12 percent) reported that their salaries have gone down over the past 12 months; In 2022, only 6 percent reported a decreased salary. READ MORE

CPA Salary Guide: How Much Do CPAs Make?

Becoming a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is not just a career choice; it’s a pathway to a wide range of financial and professional benefits. With a salary spectrum that spans from $45,000 to $300,750, as highlighted by Robert Half, the CPA credential is a significant lever for accountants with a CPA license. Opportunities for CPAs are available across various sectors and positions, including private corporations, public accounting firms, and government agencies. With experience and expertise, a CPA can progress to high-ranking positions like a Chief Financial Officer or a top-tier tax consultant. READ MORE

What living on 6 figures looks like in 4 different cities across the United States

The dollar is not equal in all cities. In Morristown, Tennessee, $100 is worth $118. In San Francisco, it’s $83.

To understand what life looks like for people with the same salaries who live in different parts of the country, Fast Company spoke with four women in four very different regions to ask about how they’re doing financially. For context, we pulled cost-of-living numbers from GOBankingRates, circa June 2023. READ MORE

How long will it take Purdy to earn Mahomes' salary? The massive Super Bowl pay gap

As Super Bowl LVIII looms on the horizon, the financial disparity between its two starting quarterbacks couldn't be more pronounced. Brock Purdy, the San Francisco 49ers' signal-caller, will face off against Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday, February 11. The contrast in their earnings is a stark reminder of the NFL's salary spectrum-from the league's Cinderella story to its highest echelons of quarterback compensation. READ MORE

OPM offers guidance for agencies implementing salary history ban

The Office of Personnel Management on Friday set a deadline of October for agencies to comply with new federal regulations barring the federal government from using a job applicant’s salary history when setting their pay.

Earlier this week, OPM finalized regulations barring agencies from soliciting or otherwise relying on past compensation during the hiring and pay-setting process in most cases. The Biden administration also proposed similar rules this week that would ban the practice for federal contractors and subcontractors, though those would not take effect until at least April. READ MORE

Pros And Cons Of Salary Transparency (Satire)

An increasing number of people advocate being open about salaries as a way to fix pay iniquities and encourage employees to ask for more compensation, but there are many cultural and professional taboos around the practice. The Onion looks at the pros and cons of salary transparency. READ MORE

CEO Pay Packages May Face Increased Scrutiny Thanks To Elon Musk

The largest compensation package in history was recently voided by a Delaware Court of Chancery judge, sending a message to corporate board members that it is their fiduciary duty to negotiate in good faith on behalf of investors. A key question for board compensation committees to ask, “Is it necessary to overpay to retain a company CEO?”

Judge Kathaleen McCormick determined that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s 2018 10-year pay agreement that would have awarded him 12 tranches of Tesla stock options that would vest if the company’s market capitalization grew by $50 billion and revenue targets were reached was “unfair” to investors. The company’s market cap has grown from $50 billion in 2018 to more than $586 billion today (it briefly topped $1 trillion in 2021), which would mean Musk’s options would have vested. READ MORE

Executive Pay Increasingly Linked to ESG Metrics and Climate

Two surveys from one consulting company have shed interesting light on the differing fortunes of executive pay and employee benefits.

WTW – which provides global risk advisory, insurance brokerage and consulting solutions – found that 81% of companies include ESG in their executive incentive plans, with climate rising rapidly through the ranks when it comes to compensation. READ MORE

A former Tesla lawyer broke down in tears during Elon Musk's compensation lawsuit

You want your lawyer to be on your side. The more passionate they are, the better. If they’re so passionate they can’t control their emotions, though, you might be in trouble. That’s exactly what happened to Elon Musk in a recent court case. Todd Maron, former General Counsel for Tesla and the billionaire’s former divorce attorney, broke down crying over his love for Elon during a deposition about how much the billionaire got paid. READ MORE