I just want to start off by saying, hot damn, I love you guys.

But Musk can't expect a payday just yet.

In January, a judge struck down the entire compensation package, now valued at roughly $48 billion, calling its approval process deeply flawed.

The vote doesn't automatically override the judge's decision, but it gives Tesla's lawyers some leverage in challenging the court's concerns.

Here's how it could play out.

First, the judge, Chancellor Kathleen McCormick, can choose to reverse her decision and accept the shareholders' vote.

She says, OK, you got me. That's it. I guess I'll give it all back and we're done.

The other extreme is that she looks at it and she says, this is ridiculous. You can't undo a trial finding this way.

And then that all gets appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court.

The third possibility is she says, I don't have enough information to be able to determine if this fixed at all.

In which case, maybe there has to be document production, discovery.

Maybe there has to be depositions. Maybe there has to be a whole new hearing.

Even after McCormick makes her final judgment, the legal battle isn't necessarily over.

If there is an appeal.

Now the Delaware Supreme Court has essentially three issues before it.

Issue one, was she correct about the 2018 package?

Issue two, is she correct about the effect of the new vote?

And issue three, legal fees.

For Tesla's board, the compensation deal's approval is already a victory.

In a lot of ways, investors are sending a strong endorsement of this plan.

And the board feels like that's an important part in getting this thing ultimately passed into Elon.

But worries that existed in 2018, when the pay package was first approved and challenged in court, haven't disappeared.

The Tesla board was concerned that he was distracted.

At the time he had SpaceX, he had the Boring Company, he had Neuralink.

And they were worried he was not buckling down, if you will.

And so they wanted to make it so enticing that he would be a fully engaged CEO at Tesla.

Here we are, all those years later, and he is arguably busier.

There has been criticism that he has been distracted.

Been distracted buying Twitter, now known as X.

Been distracted with X.A.I., this startup that he created for artificial intelligence, that to some looks like a competitor to Tesla.

And the question arises, is he fully engaged at Tesla?

Transcription by ESO. Translation by —