A Silicon Valley venture capitalist who served on Tesla Inc’s board testified that the largest executive-pay package in US corporate history was necessary to keep Elon Musk “engaged” in the electric carmaker he founded.
Taking the stand on Nov 14 as the first witness in a trial over the propriety of paying Musk some US$55bil (RM252.31bil), Ira Ehrenpreis said the Tesla board recognised in 2017 that the chief executive officer was a “serial entrepreneur” and wanted to make sure he didn’t leave the company to pursue other interests.