The year 2023 does not look better than the previous one for Elon Musk. The multi-billionaire is expected to appear in a California court. He is the subject of a class action lawsuit from Tesla shareholders who believe one of his tweets helped manipulate the stock price.
It’s a high-risk trial looming on the horizon for Elon Musk. If found guilty in this financial case, Tesla could have to pay a large amount of damages to the plaintiffs. The case should be in court in Northern California, but according to the mogul’s attorneys, it will be impossible to find jurors impartial to Musk. So they’re asking a federal judge to delay, or even relocate, the debates in Texas.
Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018
On August 7, 2018, Me Musk said in a tweet that he was considering taking the company private at $420 per share and that its financing was now secure. Following this, he had to pay a fine of $40 million imposed by the stock market police in the USA. However, the legal troubles were not over. A group of shareholders sued the company because, according to the federal judge who authorized the procedure, ” Elon Musk recklessly made these claims knowing they were false “. Did this tweet really help manipulate Tesla’s stock price? This is what the trial will seek to determine.
Elon Musk believes that Californians will not be impartial towards him
Since 2020, when the billionaire moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin, Texas, the divorce has long been consummated between the State of California and Elon Musk. The latter believes that the waves of layoffs that followed his arrival at the head of the social network Twitter have forged negative feelings towards him in the local population. At the national level, it is even said that his escapades are scaring away potential Tesla buyers.
According to many observers, Elon Musk’s arrival at the head of Twitter is a fiasco and its decisions are increasingly controversial. Under these conditions, the “Chief twit” directly asked members of the community if he should remain at the head of Twitter. The response was largely negative, but the CEO has yet to name his replacement.