Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has been exonerated of misleading investors in a 2018 tweet.
A jury concluded that Elon Musk did not deceive his investors when he tweeted in 2018 that he had the money to take Tesla private.
Due to the SpaceX owner’s tweet driving up Tesla’s stock, which then crashed 10 days later when it became evident the purchase would not go through, investors attempted to sue him for billions of dollars.
Investor losses were estimated by an economist hired by the shareholders to be as high as $12 billion.
The trial’s outcome depended on whether Mr. Musk misled Tesla shareholders in his tweets in 2018.
Two tweets that Elon Musk sent on August 7, 2018, suggesting a potential Tesla buyout, were at the centre of the civil lawsuit.
Just before getting on his private jet, Elon Musk tweeted that he had “financing secured” to take Tesla private.
A few hours later, Mr. Musk tweeted once more to say the agreement was close.
Twitter is allegedly in behind on its rent once more, and this time it includes King Charles.
Elon Musk in court to defend remarks on the Tesla buyout
Tesla and Elon Musk are facing charges that his tweets cost investors billions of dollars.
According to testimony produced during the three-week trial, the tweets led Twitter’s stock to rise during the 10-day period covered by the case before dropping again when Mr. Musk abandoned a proposal in which he never had a clear finance commitment.
Tesla shareholders’ attorney Nicholas Porritt urged the jury to censure Mr. Musk for his “loose connection with the truth.”
The lawyer for Mr. Musk, Alex Spiro, acknowledged that the 2018 tweets were “technically wrong.”
“Just because it’s a lousy tweet doesn’t make it a fraud,” he said to the jury.
“I Am Deeply Appreciative Of Jury’s Unanimous Finding Of Innocence In Tesla 420 Take-Private Case,” Mr. Musk tweeted after the verdict was announced.