ELON MUSK’S HIGH-PAY CONTRACT:

Mr. Musk might have been negotiating with his mom or Genghis Khan and the outcome would have been the same. The board would have accepted the terms he laid out, proposing no reward at all unless he succeeded in creating an extraordinary and implausible increase in shareholder value.

Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, in her ruling, emphasizes that, golly, Mr. Musk’s contract was bigger than any other chief executive’s. Fluster, fluster.

In the real world, his contract was most importantly different because no other CEO would have signed it. Rationally, candidates want to be compensated for their time and effort even if their efforts don’t pay off in a higher share price.

After all, 99% of the variables are outside a CEO’s control, from the policy environment and the acts of competitors to changes in tastes and technologies. The best plans of mice and men, etc. High-caliber business talents spend decades building their market value precisely so they have bargaining clout to get paid (at least somewhat) even for failing.

So far, at least, betting against Elon has been a loser’s game. That won’t always be true, of course. But when you look at everything he’s accomplished over the last couple of decades, it’s pretty much unmatched. Any one of his companies would be a triumph of the first order.