Musk’s $55 Billion Pay Kept Him ‘Engaged’ in Tesla, VC Says (1)

A Silicon Valley venture capitalist who served on Tesla Inc.’s board testified that the largest executive-pay package in US corporate history was necessary to keep Elon Musk “engaged” in the electric carmaker he founded.

Taking the stand Monday as the first witness in a trial over the propriety of paying Musk some $55 billion, Ira Ehrenpreis said the Tesla board recognized in 2017 that the chief executive officer was a “serial entrepreneur” and wanted to make sure he didn’t leave the company to pursue other interests.

“We wanted Elon to be at the head of Tesla for a long ...