--- title: "Heavy Metal Drummer Cost Elon Musk $55.8 Billion" description: "Elon Musk will not be $55.8 billion richer anytime soon — and it wouldn't have happened without a ticked off metal band drummer." date: "2024-02-01" modified: "2024-02-01" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/metal-drummer-elon-musk-tesla" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "music" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Heavy Metal Drummer Cost Elon Musk $55.8 Billion ![Elon Musk will not be $55.8 billion richer anytime soon — and it wouldn't have happened without a ticked off metal band drummer.]() *\Image: Omar Marques via Getty / Futurism\* ## Hate Breed Elon Musk will not be $55.8 billion richer anytime soon — and it wouldn't have happened without a ticked off metal band drummer. As the [*Wall Street Journal* reports](), Musk won't be granted all those additional billions from Tesla, per his strangely-negotiated pay package deal, thanks to one Richard Tornetta, a one-time thrash band drummer who also happens to be a shareholder convinced that the CEO should not be making so much money off his back. A self-described "[car guy]()," Tornetta used to work for a company that made audio parts for automobiles and currently works in marketing, per an archived version of his LinkedIn that the *WSJ* viewed that paints him as very much the type of person who would buy stock in Tesla. The more exciting side of his backstory, however, goes back to 2008, when as [*Newsweek* reports](), the shareholder's old band [Dawn of Correction](), whose name [seems to be taken]() from a folk song that was a response to *another* folk song, titled "[Eve of Destruction]()," released its one and only album, "[Dead Hand Control]()." Not long after, the band's members left the project for greener pastures — which in this case included suing the world's richest man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0V9auRTI24 ## Electric Wizard Ten years after the album dropped, [Tornetta sued Tesla](), alleging that its board members misled investors at the CEO's behest when deciding to award Musk a whopping $56 billion as compensation. It's been tied up in Delaware courts ever since, with the COVID-19 pandemic and a [months-long surgery leave]() for the judge, Chancellor Kathleen McCormick, putting it off until now. "Was the richest person in the world overpaid?" the original filing in Delaware Chancery Court reads in its introduction. "The stockholder plaintiff in this derivative lawsuit says so. He claims that Tesla, Inc.’s directors breached their fiduciary duties by awarding Elon Musk a performance-based equity-compensation plan." In her ruling, Chancellor McCormick agreed that the compensation negotiations and [subsequent shareholder vote]() were "deeply flawed," and that it should therefore be rescinded. "This would be as though it never happened," Greg Varallo, Tornetta's lawyer, told the *WSJ*. Incredibly, as [*Al Jazeera* reports](), Tornetta only owned nine shares in Tesla when he sued in 2018, which are worth about $1,700 today. His lawyers, the outlet reported, will be compensated by Tesla — which if nothing else shows that when you go up against giants like Musk, sometimes you can at least get your legal bills paid. **More on Tesla:** [*Elon Musk Voted* "*Most Overrated CEO*" *by His Colleagues*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()