Elon Musk testified in federal court Friday in a civil jury trial that may decide whether a tweet he sent in 2018 cost Tesla investors millions of dollars.
tesla (TSLA) – Get a free report Shareholders are suing the company over losses they say they suffered when Musk tweeted that he had “secured” money to take the company private at $420 a share.
Musk, who bought Twitter on October 27 for $44 billion, has a history of tweeting on the social network long before he owned the company. The tweet in question, dated Aug. 7, 2018, has already cost him millions in fines from the Securities and Exchange Commission and forced him to resign as Tesla chairman.
Musk reached a settlement with the SEC on September 29, 2018, which required the CEO and Tesla to pay a $20 million penalty each and for Musk to resign as chairman for tweeting that he could take Tesla private at $420 a share and buy it out. . the company for 72,000 million dollars.
The expensive tweet
“I’m considering taking Tesla private at $420. Financing secured.” Musk tweeted on August 7, 2018.
This so-called “funding secured” tweet is at the center of the trial, which began this week in San Francisco.
According to a published report, Musk testified Friday: “I care a lot about retail investors. … They are our most loyal and steadfast investors.”
Musk said in court that Twitter is the most democratic way to communicate, according to a report from MarketWatch.
The tech entrepreneur was also quoted as saying: “Just because you tweet something doesn’t mean people believe it or act on it.
According to media reports, Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Musk, said in court on Wednesday that the 2018 tweet was “a split-second decision” meant to show Musk was being transparent about talks with Saudi investors. about a possible deal. “He wasn’t planning on tweeting this,” Spiro said.
NBC reported that Nicholas Porritt, an attorney representing lead plaintiff Glen Littleton, 71, of Kansas City, Missouri, as well as other Tesla shareholders, said Musk defrauded them. “His lies about him caused regular people like Glen Littleton to lose millions and millions of dollars,” Porritt said, adding that the tweet also hurt pension funds.
According to a Reuters report on Friday, Musk testified about difficulties Tesla was facing, particularly from short sellers. “A lot of sharks on Wall Street wanted Tesla dead, very badly,” he said.
Musk was briefly on the stand Friday afternoon, but is expected to continue his testimony when the trial resumes Monday morning.
