Now, a judge in the US State of Delaware has annulled a 56 billion dollar pay package that was awarded to Elon Musk in 2018 by his electric car company, Tesla. The lawsuit was filed by a shareholder who argued that the figure was an inappropriate overpayment. The judge agreed, saying the amount, the largest in corporate history, was unfathomable. Elon Musk has posted about the decision on his social media site, X, saying, Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware. He added, I recommend incorporating in Nevada or Texas if you prefer shareholders to decide matters. He's also set up a vote on X asking if Tesla should change its state of incorporation to Texas, the home of its physical headquarters. That vote will close in the early hours of Thursday. With all the details from Los Angeles, here's our North America correspondent, Peter Bowes.

It's very nice if you can get A colossal pay package, as you've already indicated, Sally, the biggest ever for a CEO of a publicly trading company. It made him the richest person in the world, but clearly not everyone was happy. This, I think, lawsuit really just shows the power of an investor, the shareholder that took him to court, questioning this, arguing that it was unfair to shareholders. And well, there was a trial back in 2022, and we heard at that trial, the members of the board, in effect, trying to justify what they did to... It seems what they were saying was to try to keep Elon Musk happy and dedicated to the company that he was running. Really, I think the tone and the tenet of the judge's decision, and it's quite a long summary that she has written, suggests that she feels that this board is simply too close to Elon Musk, that they are in some ways beholden to him. It is true that the people on that board are a long-time friends of Elon Musk. It leaves that board in the position now that they are going to have to rethink that pay package.

But there's a question mark over whether precisely this board can do that or whether it needs to bring in some new independent members.

Yeah, it's going to be very interesting to watch what happens next, including whether Tesla moves.

Yes, and there are always repercussions, aren't there? When Elon Musk goes onto his own social media site, X, as it is now, and as you said, poses this question to his followers, should Tesla change its state of incorporation to Texas, home of its physical headquarters? Having previously said, never incorporate in Delaware. That actually goes against the conventional wisdom of a lot of business people in this country that Delaware is generally considered to be a good state good state to incorporate in because of its tax laws that are quite different to some other states. But Elon Musk goes his own.