Elon Musk testified in federal court that Saudi Arabia’s national wealth fund had “unequivocally wanted to take Tesla private,” but claimed on Monday that he had neither misrepresented or misspoken about his intention to remove Tesla from the stock market in 2018.
Investors claim they lost money as a result of Mr. Musk’s claims about his failed effort to take Tesla private and are suing him, Tesla, and the company’s board.
The electric car manufacturer’s chairman and CEO at the time, Mr. Musk, tweeted on August 7: “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”
“Investor support is confirmed,” he continued. “Only reason why this is not certain is that it’s contingent on a shareholder vote.”
Following those posts, Tesla’s stock price increased, but then dropped when the plan fizzled.
Edward M. Chen, the judge presiding over the case, has already decided that Mr. Musk’s second assertion about taking Tesla private and the phrase “financing secured” are false.
According to legal experts, the majority of businesses and chief executives would have undoubtedly resolved a dispute like this.
However, Mr. Musk has frequently demonstrated a readiness to allow lawsuits brought against him and Tesla.
Three months after Mr. Musk bought Twitter, the trial began.
Since then, he has let go of the majority of the company’s staff, altered the platform’s content policies, and reinstated users who had been banned or suspended.
The business started producing a lot more cars shortly after attempts to take Tesla private failed in 2018, which boosted its valuation and made it simpler for Tesla to raise billions of dollars by selling shares.
However, the stock price of the firm fell last year as a result of Mr. Musk selling shares to pay for his purchase of Twitter and increased competition for Tesla.
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