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‘No One Would Accuse Us Of Being Elon Musk Fans, But … ‘: Scarborough Takes Rare Stand For Musk Over Judge’s Ruling

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Robert McGreevy Contributor
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MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough came to a rare defense of Elon Musk on Wednesday’s episode of “Morning Joe.”

Scarborough was discussing Elon Musk’s $56 billion Tesla pay package, which a Delaware judge voided in January, with Andrew Ross Sorkin. 

Sorkin explained that, despite Tesla’s board voting in favor of Musk’s incentives-based pay package, the Delaware judge struck it down, calling the compensation scheme “deeply flawed,” according to CNBC.

“Andrew, Andrew, help me out here. I mean, you know, nobody would accuse us of being big Elon Musk fans. But you enter into a deal, and you say, ‘if I hit these levels, you pay me this much money,’” Scarborough argued. 

“That was the deal,” Sorkin agreed. 

“It’s an arm’s length agreement. And this arm’s length agreement — the money doesn’t matter. It just doesn’t matter,” Scarborough opined. “If they make that agreement, he hits his target, I guess it’s just the conservative in me saying what the hell is a judge doing stepping in saying that’s too much money? That’s the deal they made!”

Sorkin went on to explain that the shareholders overwhelmingly approved the compensation package in 2018 and that Musk and Tesla were now asking them to reinstate the structure. (RELATED: Brazilian Judge Orders Criminal Probe Of Elon Musk As They Tussle Over ‘Fake News’ Online)

“Tesla is going back to shareholders today and saying, ‘hey, everybody, we want you effectively to ratify or to reinstate the previous deal. Now that you know everything, we’re actually stapling this decision. The judge thinks it’s awful. She thinks we’re too close to Elon Musk, the board and that all of these shenanigans and terrible things happened. Now that you know all of that, we want you to re-vote effectively on this deal.’ It’s very interesting because prospectively back in 2018 shareholders were looking ahead and thinking this is the deal we want to make,” Sorkin explained.

Sorkin also noted that Musk has not made a single dollar from Tesla since agreeing to the compensation package.

Following the judge’s ruling, Tesla said it would ask shareholders to consider moving the company’s incorporation from Delaware to Texas, according to CNBC. Musk moved his rocket company SpaceX from Delaware to Texas in February and recommended other business owners do the same.