Elon Musk has scored a major victory in the courtroom after a jury found he was not liable for misleading investors in a 2018 tweet about potentially taking Tesla private.
On Friday afternoon, the nine-jury person jury said investors in the class-action case failed to prove that they were misled by the Tesla CEO.
In 2018, Musk tweeted that he had the financing to take Tesla private even though it turned out he hadn’t gotten an iron-clad commitment for an aborted deal that would have cost $20 billion to $70 billion to pull off.
The tweets caused Tela’s stock to surge during a 10-day period covered by the lawsuit before falling back after Musk abandoned a deal, based on evidence presented during the three-week trial.
Elon Musk, center, leaves a federal courthouse in San Francisco on Friday after a jury found he was not liable for misleading investors in 2018
The infamous 2018 read: ‘Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.’
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It was then followed by another tweet stating that the trade was imminent: ‘Investor support is confirmed. Only reason why this is not certain is that it’s contingent on a shareholder vote.’
Alex Spiro, Musk´s attorney, admitted that the 2018 tweets were ‘technically inaccurate,’ but he told the jurors: ‘Just because it’s a bad tweet doesn’t make it a fraud.’
The final day of the trial was notable as Musk showed up to court, even though his presence wasn’t legally required.
He sat stoically in court as he was vilified as a rich narcissist whose reckless behavior risks ‘anarchy,’ while his defense hailed him as a visionary looking out for the ‘little guy.’
This is a developing story.
