The Chief Executive Officer of Tesla, Elon Musk was cleared by a U.S jury on Friday over his 2018 tweet on “secured funding” for taking Tesla private.
The Plaintiffs, who happen to be the shareholders of Tesla, made him face the lawsuit as they claimed that the tweet was misleading and may have cost them billions of dollars.
The billionaire on August 7, 2018 tweeted “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured. He then followed up with another tweet that reads, “Investor support is confirmed. Only reason why this is not certain is that it’s contingent on a shareholder vote. ”
This tweet was said to have misled the investors as the buy out did not happen.
ALJAZEERA reported that when it became clear that Musk did not have the funds for a buyout after all, the spike in Tesla’s stock price that was sparked by his tweets at the time unexpectedly came to an end a week later.
As a result, he abandoned his intention to take the automobile private, which led to a $40 million settlement with US securities regulators and his removal as the chairman of the firm.
In the course of the trial, a report stated that Musk personally defended the tweet claiming that he had an agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia to convert Tesla into a private one. He then disclosed that Saudi Arabia broke the agreement.
In his words, “I had no ill motive,” Musk said during nearly eight hours of testimony last month. “My intent was to do the right thing for all shareholders.”
However, the billionaire recorded a legal victory in the Friday verdict issued by U.S jury. According to Reuters, this was about 2 hours after the jury began deliberations.
Although it was noted that Elon Musk was not present, he tweeted on Friday expressing his appreciation for the favourable decision of the jury.
The billionaire said, “Thank goodness, the wisdom of the people has prevailed.”
Meanwhile, the investor’s lawyer, Nicholas Porritt, stated that, “We are disappointed with the verdict and are considering next steps.”