Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he expected to reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the social media company, adding that he hoped to complete an organizational restructuring this week. Musk made the remarks while testifying in a Delaware court to defend against claims that his $56 billion pay package at Tesla Inc was based on easy to achieve performance targets and was approved by a compliant board of directors.
"There’s an initial burst of activity needed post-acquisition to reorganize the company,” Musk said in his testimony. ”But then I expect to reduce my time at Twitter.”
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.
Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta sued Musk and the board in 2018 and hopes to prove that Musk used his dominance over Tesla’s board to dictate terms of the package, which did not require him to work at Tesla full-time.
Musk’s testimony before Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick comes as he is 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.
"I was entirely focused on the execution of the company,” Musk said when questioned about Tesla by his attorney Evan Chesler, adding that he did not dictate the terms of the pay plan.
Musk said he not would accept a pay plan that required him to punch a clock or commit certain hours to Tesla. "I pretty much work all the time,” he said. "I don’t know what a punch clock would achieve.”
Investors are growing concerned about Musk’s focus on Twitter, and on the stand the billionaire said he focuses his attention where it is needed most, which in 2017 was Tesla.
The billionaire’ s first two weeks as Twitter’s owner has been marked by rapid change and chaos. He quickly fired Twitter’s previous chief executive and other senior leaders and then laid off half of Twitter’s staff earlier this month.
(Edited by : Anushka Sharma)
First Published: Nov 16, 2022 11:15 PM IST
Musk says he will find a new leader to run the social media company, while testifying in a Delaware court to defend against claims that his $56 billion pay package at Tesla Inc was based on easy to achieve performance targets and was approved by a compliant board of directors.
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