Remix clone Hacker News

> The board at Tesla is basically Elon’s buddies.

AFAIK, Robyn Denholm, Tesla’s chair, had no particular association with Musk prior to joining Tesla’s board. She is an Australian business executive with a history of working in senior finance roles in Australian and US firms. She was recruited on to Tesla’s board by another (now former) Tesla director, Brad Buss, who to my knowledge has never been that closely associated with Musk either. Musk obviously trusts and respects Denholm, but I believe their relationship is more professional than personal - Denholm lives in Australia and travels to the US for Tesla board meetings.

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sangnoir 15 hours ago | parent [-]

Wasn't there a shareholder suite that alleged the directors aren't independent because of the above-standard Tesla options they receive? Robyn Denholm excecised and sold $35M worth of TSLA in the past month.

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pmorici 14 hours ago | parent | next [-]

If receiving stock based compensation is grounds for not being independent then wouldn't most companies have an independence issue with their boards? It just seems like a crazy claim on it's face.

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skissane 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> Wasn't there a shareholder suite that alleged the directors aren't independent because of the above-standard Tesla options they receive?

Has a court accepted that argument? I mean, you can come up with all sorts of grounds to claim an independent director isn’t really independent, but unless a court with jurisdiction accepts the argument, it doesn’t really count for anything.

	▲	JumpCrisscross 12 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Has a court accepted that argument Yes, a Delaware court. It’s why Musk’s pay package is contested and why Tesla redomiciled.
	▲	sangnoir 14 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		HN is a court of law: some things may fail to meet some legal test, but not that in no way means it automatically becomes subjectively "right". I am adding a datapoint on what's arguable and leaving the judgement of cogency to the reader. My previously-unstated opinion is: remunerating directors like executives blurs the distinction between those 2 roles in ways that are likely detrimental to long-term shareholders.