In a brief phone call on Monday, a Delaware judge approved a $ 60 million settlement for a shareholder lawsuit stemming from Tesla’s $ 2 billion acquisition of clean energy company SolarCity in 2016. Interestingly, the judge ruled in favor for settlement for Tesla executives, but not Elon Musk, when the CEO is ready to tackle his own SolarCity-related business next March.
In addition to the $ 60 million settlement, Judge Joseph Slights III approved $ 16.8 million in legal fees and expenses claimed by the plaintiff’s attorneys. As noted in a report by ABC News, this amount corresponds to about 28% of the “derivative deposits” of the business, which was made on behalf of the company and is ready to be paid by insurers.
“It’s a substantial amount of money,” Judge Sights said.
Plaintiff’s lawsuit against Tesla’s executives alleges that the executors were relinquishing their fiduciary duties to TSLA shareholders by simply allowing Musk to go through with his personal intentions to buy SolarCity, which was punished in rough time. used to be. The CEO of Tesla was then the largest shareholder of SolarCity, and the plaintiffs claimed that the purchase unfairly benefited Musk, his neighbors who co-founded the company, and Tesla executives who also share in SolarCity to have.
Musk, for its part, has defended Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity. As could be seen in pre-trial sections made public last year, the CEO noted that the acquisition was a strategic move for Tesla, and that the solar company would have been good by itself, even if it had not been acquired. He dismissed the plaintiff’s lawyers as well, stating that they ‘burned the wrong tree’.
“SolarCity would have done just fine by itself and Tesla would have done just fine by itself, but in the long run they are better together. And that’s what the future will hold. That’s why I think you need to stop wasting your time now, ”Musk said, as noted in a Bloomberg report.
Tesla and Elon Musk have both maintained that the acquisition of SolarCity was a step in the right direction, as solar panels and energy storage, along with electric cars, encompass an ecosystem of products that can provide energy independence to customers. This point was outlined by Tesla in an announcement back in 2016.
“Solar and storage are at their best when combined. As one company, Tesla (storage) and SolarCity (solar) can create fully integrated residential, commercial and grid-scale products that enhance the way energy is generated, stored and consumed … By working together, we can Work more efficiently and fully integrate our products, while providing customers with an aesthetically pleasing and simple one-stop solar + storage experience: one installation, one service contract, one phone app, ”the company noted.
Elon Musk explained this point further in the second quarter call. According to the CEO, there are three elements of a sustainable future, and two of them are related to Tesla Energy, which offers solar solutions and battery storage. “That there are three elements of the future for sustainable energy. Generating wind and solar renewable energy, storing batteries and electric transport. Those three things. And Tesla’s mission is to accelerate renewable energy. That says enough, “Musk said.
