Amid Twitter turmoil, Elon Musk takes stand in $56 billion Tesla pay trial

Elon Musk, known for his combative testimony, took the stand in a Delaware court to defend against claims that his $56 billion Tesla Inc pay package was based on easy performance targets and approved by a compliant board of directors.

Musk began by answering questions from his attorney about his history at Tesla and described how the company was struggling to survive in 2017, when the pay package was developed.

“I thought it was extremely unlikely,” he said in response to a question of whether he thought at the time if Tesla would succeed.