The Zhitong Finance App learned that core members of the Tesla (TSLA.US) board team, including Chairman Robyn Denholm (Robyn Denholm) and James Murdoch (James Murdoch), obtained a legal ruling on Wednesday and formally reached a settlement agreement totaling up to 0.919 billion US dollars.

The agreement aims to resolve a lawsuit brought by the Detroit Police and Firefighter Retirement System in 2020 alleging that Tesla directors were overpaid between 2017 and 2020. According to the terms of the agreement, the directors are required to return approximately $0.277 billion in cash, $0.459 billion in stock options to Tesla, and relinquish stock options worth $0.184 billion over the next three years.

The settlement not only marks an important step in Tesla's resolution of the pay dispute, but also shows the determination of the Delaware State Court to protect shareholders' rights.

Judge Kathaleen McCormick (Kathaleen McCormick), who is in charge of hearing the case, officially approved the settlement plan during a telephone hearing on Wednesday. The amount involved in the plan ranked second in Delaware's Court of Equity history, second only to the settlement amount in another major shareholder lawsuit.

Notably, although the directors did not acknowledge wrongdoing, the settlement required them to return part of their compensation and introduced a range of governance changes, including new rules requiring shareholders to approve directors' remuneration. The purpose of this change is to enhance the transparency and impartiality of corporate governance to protect shareholders' interests.

Additionally, the court also decided to pay $0.176 billion in fees and costs to the three law firms filing the case in an accident, ranking fourth in Delaware shareholder litigation history. Tesla tried to limit this fee to 64 million dollars, but the court eventually handed down a higher ruling. Tesla and its lawyers have yet to comment on this.

In the settlement agreement, it was not specified how much each director should return, but the list of directors involved was quite remarkable.

In addition to Danhome and Murdoch, they also include Musk's brothers Kimbal Musk (Kimbal Musk), Brad Buss (Brad Buss), Ian Ehrenpreis (Ira Ehrenpreis), Antonio Gracias (Antonio Gracias), Stephen Jurvetson (Stephen Jurvetson), Linda Johnson Rice (Linda Johnson Rice), and Kathleen Wilson Thompson (Kathleen Thompson) Wilson-Thompson), Hiromichi Mizuno (Hiromichi Mizuno), and Lawrence Ellison (Lawrence Ellison), co-founder of Oracle. Forbes listed Ellison as one of the richest people in the world, estimating his fortune at $206 billion.

Meanwhile, Tesla founder Musk was not paid for being a director. However, during his time as Tesla's CEO, he was questioned by another shareholder due to a compensation plan.

Last year, the same judge ordered the cancellation of Musk's pay plan because he had too much control over pay negotiations. The ruling also further highlights the importance of corporate governance structures and the need for shareholder supervision.

Overall, the conclusion of the Tesla directors' remuneration settlement agreement not only resolved the long-standing salary dispute, but also provided an important opportunity for the reform of the company's governance structure. In the future, Tesla will continue to work to improve the level of corporate governance, protect shareholders' interests, and promote the company's sustainable and healthy development.