In this week’s episode of Elon Musk’s publicized drama, the new Twitter CEO and free speech absolutist is going to face trial for a tweet he published in 2018.
Musk announced his ambition to fully acquire Tesla, the electric manufacturer where he continues to serve as CEO and from which he gets the majority of his income, years ago on Twitter.
Ever since 2004, he became the company’s biggest shareholder by investing $6.5 million. He then joined the company’s board, climbing up the corporate ladder and becoming an active CEO in 2008, or as he calls himself, a “Technoking”.
On August 7, 2018, Musk tweeted that he had secured the finance for a $72 billion takeover of Tesla. He later emphasized this statement in a message that suggested a transaction was close at hand.
However, the buyout never happened, and Musk will now have to defend his actions in a federal court in San Francisco while being sworn in, as read on several US media.
The trial was sparked by a class-action complaint on behalf of investors who held Tesla stock for a 10-day period in August 2018. Jury selection for the trial will begin this Tuesday.
Tesla’s stock price surged as a result of Musk’s tweets from that time, but it abruptly came to an end a week later when it became clear that he lacked the funding necessary for a buyout after all.
He abandoned his proposal to take the automobile private as a result, which led to a $40 million settlement with American security regulators and a requirement that he resign as the company’s chairman.
Since then, Musk has claimed that he entered the deal under duress and that during conversations with officials from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, he believed he had secured funding for a takeover of Tesla.
The jury’s assessment of Musk’s motivation for tweets that U.S. District Judge Edward Chen has previously ruled were untrue, may determine the trial’s conclusion, according to sources of AP news.
Judge Chen also denied Musk’s request to move the trial to Texas, where Tesla will move its headquarters in 2021, on Friday.
Musk has maintained that the San Francisco Bay Area judicial process had been tainted by negative coverage of his purchase of Twitter.
Ever since Elon Musk purchased the giant social media app which resulted in a switch of his attention, Tesla’s stocks have dropped drastically and continuously reaching 65% by late December.
Musk’s divided attention seems to be heavily affecting the automotive company, in a way that might not be reversible.
Elon’s 2023 started with him becoming the first person in history to lose $200 billion, followed by this upcoming trial.
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