Elon Musk is sued by Tesla shareholders, who accuse him of fraud. In defense, the businessman said he believed his tweets had no impact on Tesla’s stock price.
Former richest man in the world and second most followed account on Twitter, with more than 125 million followers: Elon Musk is what you might call an influential person. His posts on the social network are still shared by thousands of people, and he can single-handedly boost the value of a cryptocurrency like Dogecoin.
However, it would seem that the businessman is not aware of his power, as he declared during a hearing on January 20, 2023. Currently on trial with Tesla shareholders, who accuse him of fraud and to have made them lose millions of dollars because of a tweet, Elon Musk justified himself in a surprising way: for him, nobody listens to him on Twitter.
A lawsuit for fraud
The tweet in question dates from 2018. At the time, Elon Musk explained “ think about buying Tesla which is a public company listed on the stock exchange, by buying back the shares at 420 dollars per unit. The takeover represented a considerable sum to unlock, but the billionaire had specified that the “ funding was secured “.
Immediately after this message was published, Tesla stock prices rose, and all could have ended well. However, it was later revealed that Elon Musk’s funding was not assured at all – and Tesla’s stocks subsequently fell seriously. The American financial policeman sentenced him to a fine of several million dollars for this tweet, and forced him to give up his place as chairman of the board of directors of Tesla (he remains the CEO, however).
But the story of this tweet is not over. The trial of Elon Musk, who is accused of fraud by company shareholders, began on Friday January 20 in San Francisco, and could have new consequences for the businessman.
” Just because I tweet something doesn’t mean people will believe me »
On the first day of the trial, Elon Musk spoke for nearly half an hour, according to Gizmodo, defending himself by explaining that he was ” absurd to suggest that his tweets could have an impact on Tesla’s stock price. ” Just because I tweet something doesn’t mean people will believe me, or do what I say. “, did he declare.
According to him, the best example of this would be posting a tweet, in which he said he thought Tesla’s stock price was too high. As a result of this message, the company’s stock price went up, not down. For him, therefore, there would be no causality link between his tweets and Tesla’s stock price — though other observers might note that he did have an impact on the stock price.
Another important information to remember from this first hearing: Elon Musk continued to post messages on Twitter, despite the advice of his advisers. The Verge reports that Antonio Gracias, a former Tesla board member, investor Ron Baron, and Sam Teller, a close associate of Musk, all allegedly asked him to stop tweeting. ” Guess I kept tweeting, yeah said Elon Musk, when asked if he had ignored their suggestion.
Despite the warnings, and the ongoing trial, it seems that Elon Musk has still not learned from his mistakes. On December 28, Elon Musk caused Tesla to lose 11% of its value in a single tweet, after responding to Dimitri Medvedev, the former Russian president, that he found his tweets ” epic “. His passion for Twitter could continue to cost him dearly.
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