Battles over CEO pay across the globe

(Corrects date in dateline)

(Reuters) -Tesla's board has proposed a historic $1 trillion compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk, contingent on meeting ambitious performance milestones that emphasizes his role in transforming the company into a tech leader.

Earlier this year, Tesla granted CEO Elon Musk 96 million new shares valued at about $29 billion, reinforcing his leadership as he contends with a court ruling that voided his original, shareholder-disputed compensation package.

In 2024, a Delaware judge struck down Musk's 2018 compensation plan - worth more than $50 billion - for a second time, citing a flawed board approval process that failed to protect shareholder interests.

Musk appealed in March, arguing the judge made multiple legal errors. Earlier this year, the automaker said its board formed a special committee to review certain pay matters involving Musk, without providing details.

Below are other CEO pay packages that have faced a tough fight:

Year Company Description

Tesla's board has

Tesla proposed a new compensation plan for

2025 CEO Elon Musk on Friday valued at

about $1 trillion upon achieving

certain lofty targets.

2025 Salesforce As of April 2025, CEO Marc Benioff's

total compensation was $55.1

million, up from $39.6 million last

year, according to a securities

filing.

In July last year, majority of

Salesforce shareholders voted

against a compensation plan for

Benioff and other executives.

2024 AstraZeneca Over a third of AstraZeneca's

  investors opposed its 2024 pay

policy, which will boost CEO Pascal

Soriot's remuneration to as much as

18.9 million pounds. It won the

backing, however, of the required

majority of votes.

2024 3M  In May, 3M shareholders voted down

the annual compensation packages of

certain executives, including that

of former CEO Mike Roman. 

2024 BlackRock  BlackRock's executive pay, including

that of CEO Larry Fink, won narrow

support from shareholders, with

about 42% of votes cast opposing

it. 

2024 Boohoo  UK-based Boohoo Group's bosses

waived their annual bonuses in May

and scrapped plans to raise

executive awards after backlash from

shareholders.

2023 BP  Former CEO Bernard Looney had more

than $40 million cut in his

compensation after the British oil

giant concluded he misled the board

over personal relationships with

colleagues.

2023 Telecom Shareholders rejected Telecom

Italia  Italia's pay policy after top

investor Vivendi criticized criteria

to award bonus payments to CEO

Pietro Labriola.

2022 Intel  Intel shareholders rejected

compensation packages for top

executives, including a payout of as

much as $178.6 million to then CEO

Pat Gelsinger.

2021 Rio Tinto  Rio Tinto shareholders rejected the

miner's executive pay packages, in a

backlash over its destruction of

ancient rock shelters in Western

Australia the previous year.

2021 McDonald's  Former CEO Steve Easterbrook agreed

to return compensation worth $105

million in equity awards and cash to

settle a lawsuit over alleged lies

about affairs.

2021 GE  GE shareholders rejected executives'

compensation packages, including a

payout of as much as $230 million to

CEO Larry Culp.

2021 Morrisons  Investors in the British supermarket

group overwhelmingly rejected its

pay report in 2021.

2021 Halliburton More than half of Halliburton's

  shareholders voted against its

proposed executive compensation

plan.

2021 UniCredit  The Italian bank's boss, Andrea

Orcel, narrowly avoided a

shareholder revolt against his pay

package, securing only 54% of votes

at a general meeting after top

investor BlackRock voted against it.

2019 CBS CBS Corp fired Leslie Moonves for

cause and denied a $120 million

severance package after the former

chief executive was accused of

sexual harassment and assault that

allegedly took place before and

after he joined the company.

2017 Uber  Travis Kalanick, Uber's co-founder

and CEO, was forced to resign after

a series of scandals plagued the

company, including allegations of

sexual harassment and a toxic

workplace culture. Shareholders

later sued the board, alleging it

failed to properly oversee Kalanick

and allowed the scandals to occur. 

2017 Equifax  After a massive data breach exposed

millions of customers' personal

information, Equifax's CEO received

significant criticism for his

handling of the crisis and a hefty

bonus. Shareholders filed suit

alleging the board failed to

properly oversee the CEO.

2017 BP  BP cut CEO Bob Dudley's 2016 pay

package by 40% after a wave of

shareholder revolts.

2016 Viacom  A shareholder lawsuit claimed that

Viacom and CBS Corp's executive

chairman, Sumner Redstone,  was

improperly paid millions though "he

was physically and mentally

incapacitated."

2011 Occidental Occidental Petroleum CEO Ray

Petroleum  Irani was criticized for excessive

pay after his compensation grew 40%

in 2009 to $31.4 million.

Shareholders pushed for board

seats. 

2002 Worldcom After an accounting scandal that led

to financial fraud, shareholders

sued the company over excessive

compensation awarded to executives,

including the CEO.

(Reporting by Priyanka.G, Anuja Bharat Mistry, Anchal Rana, Yadarisa Shabong, Jaspreet Singh, Harshita Mary Varghese, Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni, Devika Syamnath, Matthew Lewis, Miral Fahmy, Sriraj Kalluvila, Maju Samuel and Anil D'Silva)