It turned out this guy's claim was justified, given the court agreed. Again, if it was really important to these investors that Elon have more billions, they do not need any courts permission to just send him money.
Try to think about this from the shareholders’ point of view.
They want Elon compensated with the bonus he hit very difficult growth targets to earn because they want to make money from him further growing the company.
If they just donate the shares they personally bought, then they don’t make money. They lose it.
I get that, but my proposal is the same thing. The shareholders could indicate that the only reason they are sending the money is because he met the targets. Therefore he knows that he got the money for meeting target -- precisely the same outcome whether from the company coffers or from individual investors.
Those billions could have gone directly to shareholders as dividends, or reinvested in the company for future growth. Either of these would be better at making money for investors. I question the logic that giving it to Elon will motivate him any differently than a lesser, but still very generous compensation would have.
It is presumed here that money is what is driving Elon (or other already billionaires). This is only ever partially true. People like him also love the power of being in charge and notoriety. Those are likely worth more than the money for Elon in particular. The board and investors should, as is their fiduciary duty, pay the minimum needed to keep him doing what he's doing.
I don't think you do get it. The company has lost $75B in market cap since this activist ruling and will likely lose much more going forward, especially if the ruling is not overturned on appeal.
Not only that, but I think it's a real loss for the US in general and Deleware in particular as a good environment for business that respects property rights. Some guy with nine shares of stock overrode the wishes of over 3/4 of the shareholders and his lawyers may extract billions from the company which the market clearly sees as having been harmed by their actions.
I doubt the $75B drop was BECAUSE of this ruling and if that's your assertion, it would need some evidence to back it up. Delaware has one of deepest bodies of case law for corporations and if Elon and the board acted inappropriately as they were found to have done, then it shouldn't matter if the case was started by a shareholder of 1 or a million shares.
They want Elon compensated with the bonus he hit very difficult growth targets to earn because they want to make money from him further growing the company.
If they just donate the shares they personally bought, then they don’t make money. They lose it.