By Chris Isidore, CNN

(CNN) — The Delaware Supreme Court has restored a massive pay package awarded to Tesla CEO Elon Musk in 2018 that had twice been voided by a lower court judge.

The package awarded Musk the option to purchase 303 million split-adjusted shares, a package worth $139 billion at Friday’s closing share price. Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, who oversaw the bench, had found that even though Tesla shareholders twice approved the compensation plan, the size of the package was unfair to shareholders.

She wrote that the Tesla board “bore the burden of proving that the compensation plan was fair, and they failed to meet their burden.”

But the Supreme Court ruled Friday that the lower court erred in its opinion and that tossing out the 2018 pay package was “inequitable” and that doing so “leaves Musk uncompensated for his time and efforts over a period of six years.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
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