Tesla is likely to leave the State of Delaware as its place of incorporation after CEO Elon Musk moved his aerospace company, SpaceX, to Texas yesterday.
Musk’s move comes just weeks after a Delaware Court of Chancery Judge revoked his $56 billion pay package that was approved by Tesla Shareholders in 2018.
Judge Kathaleen McCormick said the pay package was negotiated by Musk and shareholders were not properly informed. A minor shareholder brought on the suit, and Musk and Tesla appealed the decision yesterday.
After McCormick chose to toss out Musk’s hefty pay package in late January, the CEO vocally pushed back against the decision, warning people to not incorporate their business in Delaware.
Delaware is a common place for many large businesses and corporations to incorporate due to tax laws, predictable court outcomes, privacy, and other reasons.
However, Tesla may be on its way out of the State of Delaware and heading to Texas where its headquarters is located after Musk officially confirmed yesterday that SpaceX had made the same move:
SpaceX has moved its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas!
If your company is still incorporated in Delaware, I recommend moving to another state as soon as possible. pic.twitter.com/B7FLByL2dY
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 15, 2024
“SpaceX has moved its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas!” Musk said. “If your company is still incorporated in Delaware, I recommend moving to another state as soon as possible.”
Neuralink, Musk’s neurotechnology company, also moved its incorporation to Texas last week, but it was previously based in Nevada and not Delaware.
Neuralink switches incorporation from Delaware to Nevada: Bloomberg
It appears no preliminary moves have been made in terms of Tesla potentially moving its State of Incorporation to Delaware. However, Tesla and Musk are still in the process of ironing out what it will do about the pay package situation, and the steps to transfer to Texas could be on hold until the case is settled.
The appeal of the pay package case could take up to six months to finalize.
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