Musk testified to the jury during his trial that his tweets don’t always effect Tesla shares. “Just because I tweet something does not imply people believe it or will act accordingly,” Musk said.
In a trial over his 2018 interest in taking the electric automaker private, which shareholders believe cost them millions in trading losses, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Inc., told a jury on Friday that investors do not always respond to his Twitter postings as he expected.
Questions about Musk’s use of Twitter, the social media site he acquired in October, were asked before he began speaking. Although he referred to it as the most democratic form of communication, he claimed that his tweets did not always have the impact on Tesla stock that he had anticipated.
In a San Francisco federal court, Musk told the jury, “Just because I tweet something does not imply people believe it or will act accordingly.”
Prior to the court’s Monday adjournment, Musk gave a testimony for less than 30 minutes.
He is anticipated to talk about why he claimed to have Saudi investor backing to take Tesla private, even though that never happened, and whether he knew his tweet contained a materially deceptive statement.
Since United States Judge Edward Chen ruled that Musk’s post was reckless and untrue last year, the plaintiffs have already overcome significant legal obstacles in the lawsuit, which is an unique securities class action trial.
When Musk tweeted, “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420,” shareholders claimed he was lying. Investors pay a price for “funding secured.”
In contrast to his occasionally confrontational testimony in previous cases, Musk, who was dressed in a dark suit over a white button-down shirt, talked gently and occasionally with bemusement.
Musk talked about the challenges the business faced just after he tweeted, “Funding secured.”
Ron Baron, a Tesla investor, urged him to quit using Twitter in a series of messages that Musk was questioned about, but Musk claimed he couldn’t remember every one of the tens of thousands of tweets he received.
He talked about the issues the business was having at the time, such as short sellers’ predictions that the stock would decline.
He claimed that Wall Street sharks have a strong desire for Tesla to perish. ordinary shareholders
Investor Timothy Fries in Tesla testified earlier on Friday that he lost $5,000 after Musk posted the tweet at the center of the lawsuit when he bought Tesla stock.
According to Fries, the phrase “money secured” suggested to him that “those financial sources had undergone some vetting, some rigorous scrutiny.”
In his opening statement to the jury on Wednesday, Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney, stated that Musk thought he had finance from Saudi backers and was moving toward making the deal happen. Musk sent the tweet, which had “technical inaccuracies,” in an effort to shield the “ordinary shareholder” from leaks to the media, according to Spiro.
A Harvard Law School professor named Guhan Subramanian testified before the jury that Musk’s conduct in 2018 was “unusual” and “incoherent” in terms of negotiating a business deal because he made his intention to purchase Tesla public without conducting adequate legal or financial research.
Whether or not the tweet artificially raised Tesla’s share price by exaggerating the state of funding for the purchase will be decided by a jury of nine, and if so, how much.
The defendants include both current and past Tesla directors, who Spiro claimed reacted to Musk’s proposal with “pure” intentions.
