Good afternoon,
The Elon Musk show was in town this week, bringing a little sizzle to the otherwise sober-sided proceedings of Chancery Court.
Musk, dressed in a black suit and black tie reminiscent of the Men in Black science fiction movie franchise, spent a reported nine hours on the stand defending a decision to merge solar panel maker Solar City with electric car maker Tesla.
A group of Tesla shareholders claims that Musk, who had stakes in both companies, set the per-share purchase price for Solar City. They seek $2 billion, a fraction of Musk’s estimated $170 billion in net worth. Others settled earlier, but not Musk.
The trial even attracted Musk followers outside who gathered outside the New Castle Courthouse. They love their Teslas or geek out over his Space X rockets, not to mention plans to build a high-speed rail tunnel. (Don’t hold your breath on that one).
Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights III prepared for the festivities by issuing a dozen-page decorum memo for the media, the more than four dozen lawyers in attendance, and, one would guess, Musk.
While under control by Musk standards, the Tesla CEO did manage to describe the plaintiff’s attorney as “a bad person,” while praising Chancery Court, CNBC reported.
After all, it is Slights, not a jury, who will issue the ruling in a court whose origins date back to Medieval England. Slights also had some questions for Musk, a part of Chancery proceedings.
The Wall Street Journal (subscription) reported other musings that included a claim he disliked the details that come with being Tesla’s CEO and his criticism of Ford and Facebook for having classes of stock that favor founders and their families.
He left the heat and humidity of Wilmington on Tuesday, perhaps headed for his modest home in blazingly hot Texas. Musk reportedly moved to the Lone Star State to a pre-fab house near Tesla’s new plant, although there is an air of mystery like most things surrounding the Tesla founder.
Slight isn’t expected to rule from the bench in the Tesla. That decision could come months from now.
In the meantime, Chancery will settle back into its more mundane business of handling all types of corporate disputes, minus the satellite uplink trucks and fans.
Despite long-running predictions of a descent into irrelevance, Chancery remains the nation’s leading business court. Just ask Elon Musk. – Doug Rainey, chief content officer.
