[dangrossman]

Tesla was planning and projecting that it would meet the milestones in Elon's pay package before it was offered. They were not seen as insurmountable or unachievable goals, that was part of what made this case. Quoting the court's opinion:

> "During the December 12 meeting, the Board also reviewed Tesla’s then-current operating plan and projections. Ahuja developed, and Musk approved, the projections in December prior to the meeting (the “December 2017 Projections”). The one-year projections underlying the operating plan forecasted $27.4B in total revenue and $4.3B in adjusted EBITDA by late 2018, and thus predicted achievement of three milestones in 2018 alone. The three-year long-run projections (“LRP”) underlying that plan reflected that, by 2019 and 2020, Tesla would achieve seven and eleven operational milestones, respectively."

[pHollda]

I remember very clearly what everyone thought as it all happened in 2018. No one thought they could actually achieve all of the milestones. Everyone knows how much Musk overpromises. That they have is incredible and makes Musk totally deserving of the compensation.

[ImPostingOnHN]

I dunno, the poster you replied to brought receipts: they cited the evidence proving them correct.

A court took those citations, and judged what the poster said to be correct, settling the matter. So the poster you're responding to is officially, legally correct.

What do you think about the evidence and decision made based on the evidence above? It seems many people remember very clearly what everyone thought, and it was that the goals were achievable. Do you believe the above evidence cited, was falsified?

[haberman]

Here is a NYT article from 2018 that seems to very much vindicate grandparent's memory: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/business/dealbook/tesla-e...

> If Mr. Musk were somehow to increase the value of Tesla to $650 billion — a figure many experts would contend is laughably impossible and would make Tesla one of the five largest companies in the United States, based on current valuations — his stock award could be worth as much as $55 billion (assuming the company does not issue any more shares over the next decade, which is unrealistic). Even reaching several of the milestones would bring him billions.

> Mr. Musk’s critics — and there are many — are likely to contend that the new compensation plan is just the company’s latest publicity stunt. He has been called a modern-day P.T. Barnum who has created the illusion of success while consistently missing production estimates. The company continues to lose money; at one point last year, it was losing almost a half-million dollars an hour, according to Bloomberg News. Jim Chanos, a short-seller who has bet against Tesla’s shares — and has thus far been on the losing side of that trade — has contended that Tesla is worthless.

Do you believe the article above is consistent with the idea that everyone thought the goals were achievable?

[kortilla]

You only need to look to the “thinking of taking the company private” debacle to see how little confidence there was in Tesla achieving these goals.