Elon Musk reveals Tesla staff are helping at Twitter in testimony during shareholder lawsuit - Action News
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Elon Musk reveals Tesla staff are helping at Twitter in testimony during shareholder lawsuit

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk testified on Wednesday that some of the carmaker's employees are performing certain jobs at Twitter as he evaluates whether more of the social media platform's staff should be axed. Musk made the comments in a Delaware courtroom Wednesday while giving testimony to defend himself in a shareholder lawsuit challenging a compensation package that he was awarded by Tesla's board of directors.

Billionaire CEO faces lawsuit from Tesla shareholder over his compensation package

Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives at the Leonard L. Williams Justice Center in Wilmington, Del., on Wednesday. He is testifying to defend himself in a shareholder lawsuit over his pay package as CEO of the electric car giant. (Oliver Contreras/AFP/Getty Images)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed some of the carmaker's staff have been enlisted to work atTwitter, days after he took the reins at the social media giant and fired thousands of its staff.

Musk made the comments in a Delaware courtroom Wednesday while giving testimony to defend himself in a shareholder lawsuit challenging a compensation package that he was awarded by Tesla's board of directors.

The casecomes as Muskis struggling to oversee a chaotic overhaul of Twitter Inc., the social media platform he was forced to buy for $44 billion in a separate legal battle before the same judge after trying to back out of that deal.

Musk told the courtthat some Tesla engineers were assisting in evaluating Twitter's engineering teams, but said that work was doneon a "voluntary basis" and "after hours."

Tesla investors are understood to be growing concerned about Musk's focus on Twitter.On Monday, Musk tweetedhe had worked through the night at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters and would keep "working & sleeping here" until the social media platform was fixed.

In this courtroom sketch, Musk, left, testifies in court Wednesday. He said some Tesla employees may work at Twitter 'after hours,' after he fired thousands of staff at the social media site. (Elizabeth Williams/The Associated Press)

In testimony that followed Musk's on Wednesday, James Murdoch, a Tesla director, told the court that the company's audit committee was monitoring the Twitter situation, saying the committee had discussions about having some Tesla engineers do work at Twitter.

"Most of the work, my understanding is, has been done. It was a short-term deployment," he said, addingthe work is "paid for."

"The audit committee has said that, if it is taking away from Tesla work, that's something we also have to be very aware of and that we don't want it to be that way."

Twitter employees are seen entering the company's offices in New York on Nov. 9. Thousands of Twitter staffers have been fired in recent days after Musk took over the social media giant. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

He also said Musk asked a few team heads to see if there were people interested in helping Twitter.

Case challenges Musk's pay at Tesla

Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta is asking the court to rescind Musk's $55 billion US ($73 billion Cdn)compensation package, alleging the billionaire CEOused his dominance over Tesla's board to dictate terms of the paypackage, which did not require him to work at Tesla full-time.

On Wednesday, Musk denied that he dictated terms of his Teslacompensation package or attended any meetings at which the plan was discussed by the board, its compensation committee, or a working group that helped develop it.

"I was entirely focused on the execution of the company," he said.

Musk is pictured at an investment conference in New York on Nov. 4. Tesla investors are understood to be concerned about how much time Musk is now devoting to Twitter. (Yuki Iwamura/The Associated Press)

Musk, known for his combative testimony, told the court in his opening remarks that he thought it was "extremely unlikely" that Tesla Inc. would succeed in achieving his vision in 2016, requiring his full attention.

Musk acknowledged that he vacationed with board members and sometimes tweeted about the company without clearing the messages with a Tesla lawyer as required by a 2018 settlement with a securities regulator.

Musk also told the court that he didn't want to be chief executive of Tesla or any other company, preferring to think of himself as an engineer.

In testimony that followed Musk's, Murdochtold the court that Musk had, in the last few months, identified someone as a potential successor to head the electric carmaker, but did not name that person.

Unique case

The disputed Tesla package allows Musk to buy one per cent of Tesla's stock at a deep discount each time escalating performance and financial targets are met. Otherwise, Musk gets nothing.

Tesla has hit 11 of the 12 targets, according to court papers.

A worker transports boxes of documents to the courthouse where Musk is testifying Wednesday. The case is based on a complaint by Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta, who accused Musk and the company's board of directors of failing in their duties when they authorized Musk's pay plan. (Oliver Contreras/AFP/Getty Images)

The legal team for Musk and the Tesla directors, who are also defendants, have cast the pay package as a set of audacious goals that worked by driving 10-fold growth in Tesla's stock value, to more than $600 billion from around $50 billion.

They have argued the plan was developed by independent board members, advised by outside professionals and with input from large shareholders.

Shareholders generally cannot challenge executive compensation because courts typically defer to the judgment of directors. The Musk case survived a motion to dismiss because it was determined he might be considered a controlling shareholder, which means stricter rules apply.

Cars on the manufacturing floor at Tesla's manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, on April 7. The company's legal team argues that Musk's pay package involved ambitious goals that exponentially grew the company's stock value. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/The Associated Press)

"There is no case in which a 21.9 per cent shareholder who is also the chief executive has received a structured payout plan of this magnitude," Lawrence Cunningham, a corporate law professor at George Washington University, said of the lack of precedent.

With files from The Associated Press and CBC News