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Elon Musk spent an entire day on the witness stand today discussing his infamous “funds secured” tweet that claimed financial backing for the deal to take Tesla private.
Judge Edward Chen has already ruled that Musk’s August 2018 statement that he “secured funds” to take Tesla private was false and that “Mr. Musk recklessly made such statements.” down. Chen had to assume that the tweets were false to jurors, but whether Musk knew the tweets weren’t true, and whether the tweets would tell rational investors about Tesla’s situation differently than reality. He said he had to judge whether he had made an impression or not.
Today, Musk said the “funding has been secured” tweet was “absolutely true” and verbally said in a meeting with Yasir Al Rumayyan, managing director of the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). He said he had received a promise of funding. “He felt an agreement was reached,” Musk said.
When plaintiffs’ attorney Nicholas Porritt asked Musk about a message from Al Rumayyan that the PIF needed more information before proceeding, Musk said that Saudi officials were “backtracking” and “I’m covering my butt for lack of the right words,” he said.
“We have submitted a subpoena to Mr. Yasir and have done everything we can to get him to participate in this lawsuit,” Musk said. “The interesting question for you is, why didn’t you subpoena him? Because if you did, your case would be abandoned. That’s why.”
Polit replied that the plaintiffs had contacted Saudi Arabia to obtain Al-Rumayyan’s testimony. Judge Chen, before elaborating, closed the discussion and deleted both Musk’s and Pollitt’s responses from the record, saying they were irrelevant to the case.
Chen said Musk’s “funds secured” tweet was false, that “dealations between Tesla and the PIF were clearly in the preliminary stages,” and that the purchase price and what percentage of Tesla shares the Saudi fund had purchased was a false one. It was decided that there was no discussion on whether to In April 2022, Chen’s ruling stated that “the court held that no reasonable jury could determine, based on documentary evidence, that the ‘funds were secured’ statement was accurate and not misleading.” decided,” he said.
Musk says he could have sold SpaceX shares
Musk also claimed today that “funds have been secured” for an ownership interest in SpaceX that Tesla could sell to complete an undisclosed deal.
“A very important point for the jury that I want to emphasize is that I had [sic] As a majority shareholder in SpaceX, the most valuable private company in the United States, “collateral” refers not only to both the PIF, but also to holding shares in SpaceX to secure the deal. I mentioned This is a very important point and you seem to be avoiding it on purpose,” Musk said.
Musk’s testimony began Friday in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit primarily concerns two of his tweets made by his Musk on August 7, 2018. first time “We are considering taking Tesla private for $420. Funding secured.” The second The tweet said, “Investor support confirmed. The only reason this isn’t certain is that it depends on the shareholder vote.”
Plaintiffs allege that Musk’s false statements regarding financing led to them buying Tesla shares at high prices and ultimately suffering losses when the market reacted to the news that Musk did not have a financing agreement. ing.
“I’m thinking, not that it’s going to happen, but that I’m thinking about taking Tesla private for $420, and in my opinion, at that price, it’s going to take a lot of money to go private,” Musk said. “Funds are secured,” he said.
In testimony, Musk admitted that he was unaware of the proposed $420 per share price for the Saudi PIF until his tweet. “They learned the price offer that day,” Musk said.
