Tesla CEO Elon Musk , known as “ Mr. Tweet ” by some attorneys , resumed testifying Tuesday before a nine - person jury in asecurities fraud trialstemming from his2018 tweetsproclaiming his design to take Tesla private at $ 420 per ploughshare . That figure , Musk said under oath the day before , has absolutely nothing to do with cannabis .
Lawyers representing angry Tesla investors need to prove Musk ’s infamous “ support guarantee ” tweet were “ indisputably false , ” and wound up costing shareholders tens of millions of dollars in losses . Musk evidence the jury he ’d never had fuss raising money before , so he did n’t think he would at the clock time he sent the tweet .
The stakes are high . Musk , on the other hand , wants the panel to believe funding was in fact secured , at least in his creative thinker . If the jury side with the shareholders , Musk may have to pay out billions in amends .
Photo: Justin Sullivan (Getty Images)
“ I said exactly what I feel to be true , ” Musk added . The CEO put off that statment by suppose he was “ considering ” taking the company secret , which does not necessary mean the deal was guaranteed to materialise .
“ I ’m making it very clean that either scenario is possible , ” he said . “ We may go secret or we may not . ”
Am count taking Tesla private at $ 420 . Funding secured .
— Elon Musk ( @elonmusk)August 7 , 2018
Musk began his testimony Wednesday on a disputatious note , firing back at the law firm representing the suing investor .
The CEO double over down on his claims that he absolutely mean to take Tesla private when he compose his fateful tweet . Must claims he pushed out the funding secured tweet to his millions of followers to inform the largest numeral of shareholders potential about the plans to go private rather than a blue-ribbon few Tesla board penis who knew at the time .
“ I intended to inform them [ shareowner ] ” Musk said “ I intend I was doing the right affair . ”
The chief operating officer claims he at long last decided against take Tesla secret because little investors tell him they would prefer to remain public . Musk claimed he speaks to those so - called small investors regularly on Twitter . He then tell he invites small investors to ask questions on earrings calls .
The investors ’ change of heart , he exact , was n’t because he lacked necessary funding . Musk went a footfall further and articulate there was really more than enough backing available , due in no small part to his ego - concede science in raising money .
lawyer representing the Tesla shareholder cast doubt on that narration . While Musk antecedently say the chief of Saudi Arabia ’s Pubic Investment Fund “ unequivocally ” wanted to take Tesla private , Musk revealed the two did not settle on an existent specific dollar amount .
In reply , Musk once again said he could have in person postulate Tesla private by sell his shares in SpaceX. Musk compared this suppositious move to his recent decision to sell Tesla stock to aid fund his $ 44 billion purchase of Twitter . It ’s unclear if Musk had previously disclosed any intent to trade SpaceX stock to finance the Tesla take secret deal .
“ It ’s not something I would like to do , but it ’s something I could do , ” Musk said , comparing the funding pick to selling a abode . “ I really did n’t desire to sell SpaceX stock but I could have done so . ”
In his two late days on the looker stand , Musk and his lawyer Alex Spiro tried to paint a picture of Musk as a “ rushed , rash , ” tweeter who however still had his shareholders ’ best involvement at heart . Musk read he had every intention of fill Tesla individual and even consulted with technical school heavyweight like Dell founder Michael Dell and Oracle atomic number 27 - founder Larry Ellison , who both said they thought the move was a good idea . Musk take one of the the primary reasons he want to take Tesla private was to stave off an “ unprecedented onslaught ” from short sellers .
Tesla , of class , never ended up going private , despitemultiple tweetsand even an prescribed Teslablog postclaiming Musk had secured the necessary support to do so . On his second mean solar day on the stand , Musk blamed much of that twofold take on Yasir Al - Rumayyan , the regulator of Saudi Arabia ’s sovereign riches store , who he accused of “ ass screening ” and going back on the financial support deal . The Saudi PIF , Musk claim , would have furnish around $ 10 billion in stock to take a minority post in a private Tesla had Al - Rumayyan conform to through . Musk say he think that was “ done deal . ” verbalise on Wednesday , Musk said Saudi Arabia had enough funding to take Tesla individual , “ several time over . ”
Still , even with Al - Rumayyan out of the depiction , Musk and his lawyer repeatedly endeavor to check the jury that he could have still finance the Tesla privatization endeavor by deal his stock in SpaceX , where he is also CEO . Spiro , Musk ’s attorney , repeatedly strain to persuade the jury that Musk ’s poorly - prepared tweets did n’t contain “ lie ” as the shareholder suit alleges , but rather , more convoluted “ technological wordsmith inaccuracy . ” The CEO ’s sloppy tweets , in this relation , were actually a sign of Musk ’s extremist transparence to shareholders . Musk himself say he kept on tweeting about the theorize dead even when he knew Tesla was work on craft its own conventional statement about operate private , because he was “ worried that shareholders would think I was trying to exclude them ” if he remain mum .
The stockholder suing Musk claim his tweets pumped Tesla stock damage up but eventually led to huge decline once it was light the trade would n’t go through . Those shareholders need to nurse Musk accountable for the tens of millions in lineage economic value they turn a loss during those trying workweek . Musk , however , repeatedly tried to hold body of water on this controversy by claiming there was no “ causal link ” between his tweeting and fluctuation in a company ’s stock performance . Tesla ’s pedigree and variouscryptocurrencieshave skyrocket and plummetedplentyoftimesafter Musk ’s tweets .
“ Just because I twitch something does not mean people will believe it or act as accordingly , ” Musk enjoin during hisfirst dayof testimony .
update , 1/24/23 , 12:15 and 2:52 necropsy EST : Testimony from the trial impart .
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