By Elon Musk suddenly forgot the importance of numbers in hotpot culture when he appeared in California court on Monday and was questioned about 420 tweets. The tech billionaire has responded after prosecutors representing Tesla employees were cornered due to a class action lawsuit claiming he tweeted to mislead shareholders about the price of Tesla shares.
The fiasco began several years ago. In 2018, Musk raised Tesla stock from $419 to $420 and announced his plans to go private in a tweet. “Considering taking Tesla private for $420,” Musk tweeted on Aug. 7, 2018.
Musk said he tweeted the share price based on a “firm commitment” from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to take Tesla private. But about 10 days later, Musk admitted that the Tesla acquisition he envisioned would never happen.
After an investigation, the SEC fined Musk $40 million, forcing the billionaire to step down as Tesla’s board chairman. the SEC said How Musk misled investorsIn the SEC ComplaintMusk was accused of rounding up the stock price from $419 to $420.
On September 3, 2018, on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Musk shocked Tesla investors and everyone involved with his candid remarks to Joe Rogan. His troubles didn’t stop there. high times As NASA and SpaceX officials reviewed his security clearance, he was asked if he was “the most expensive blunt of all time” because of the fallout.
The Verge reports that Nicholas Porritt is a Tesla investor class attorney who is suing Musk for millions of dollars for failing to take Tesla private.
The court was nervous: “You rounded up to 420 because you thought it was a joke your girlfriend would love, right?” Asked“No,” Musk said, adding, “I think I have around 420 karma. At this point, you have to question whether that’s good karma or bad karma.”
Musk said the 420 was no joke in the weeds and was about a 20% premium over the $419 stock price at the time. “The 420 was not jokingly chosen,” Musk testified. “It was chosen because he had a 20% premium on the stock.” Musk also claimed it was “coincidental.”
A jury will decide whether Musk should pay billions of dollars in damages to Tesla shareholders for the money he lost because of his tweets.
Judge Edward Chen has ruled that jurors should recognize that Musk’s 2018 tweets are false. must be determined.
Musk said he was not relying on a commitment to the Saudi PIF when he tweeted that “funding has been secured,” adding that SpaceX’s shares would also help raise funds to take Tesla private. rice field. “Like I sold Tesla stock to buy Twitter … I didn’t want to sell Tesla stock, but I sold Tesla stock,” Musk said. “My SpaceX stake in him alone would have meant the money was secured.”
Musk was also sued by a group of former Twitter employees after mass layoffs. Musk recently became CEO of Twitter after he bought Twitter’s platform for $44 billion in October 2022.
