News desk
ISLAMABAD/SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter’s new Chief Executive Officer Elon on Friday told the jury that investors did not always react to his tweets as he expected, defending himself in a fraud trial over a tweet he made in 2018 that he had funding to take the electric carmaker, Telsa, private.
Musk testifies before jury
Musk’s testimony started with questions about his use of the social media platform Twitter, which he bought in October last year. He called Twitter the most democratic way to interact but said his tweets did not consistently affect carmaker Tesla stock the way he expected.
He told the San Francisco federal court jury that just because he tweets something did not mean people believed it or would act accordingly.
He testified for less than 30 minutes before the court adjourned the proceeding until Monday and he is not asked about his 2018 tweet that he had been considering taking Tesla private and that he had secured “funding.”
Musk is expected to address why he had insisted he had the backing of a Saudi investor to take Tesla private, which never happened, and whether he knowingly made the misleading statement with his tweet.
The case was a rare securities class action trial, and the plaintiffs had already cleared high legal bottlenecks, with US Judge Edward Chen ruling last year that Elon Musk’s funding post was dishonest and reckless.
Shareholders earlier alleged that Musk lied when he sent the tweet, costing investors millions of dollars.
Musk spoke softly and in a puzzled manner, contrasting his occasional combative testimony in past trials.
Musk described the difficulties Tesla went through around the time he had sent the “funding secured” tweet, including bets by short-sellers that led to the fall of the stock.
He said that a bunch of sharks on the Wall Street wanted Tesla to die very badly while alluding to short-sellers, who profit when a stock falls in price.
He said short-sellers plant false stories, and the practice should be made illegal.
Earlier on Friday, Tesla investor Timothy Fries told the same jury that he lost around $5,000 buying Tesla stock after Musk sent the tweet, which sparked volatile swings in Tesla’s stock.
