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A court in the US has cleared <keyword id="6355315" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="elon-musk" source="Orion">Elon Musk</keyword> in a class-action securities fraud over his tweets about taking <keyword id="107096" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="tesla" source="Orion">Tesla</keyword> private. The jurors deliberated for about two hours before reaching the verdict, called a "disappointed" one by <keyword id="13665005" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="nicholas-porritt" source="Orion">Nicholas Porritt</keyword>, partner at <keyword id="4990359" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="levi-korsinsky" source="Orion">Levi &amp; Korsinsky</keyword>, the firm representing the Tesla shareholders in the class action, reports CNBC. <keyword id="364027" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="musk" source="Orion">Musk</keyword> tweeted that he is "deeply appreciative of the jury's unanimous finding". His lead counsel <keyword id="3144856" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="alex-spiro" source="Orion">Alex Spiro</keyword> argued before the jury on Friday, saying "fraud cannot be built on the back of a consideration". The controversial 2018 tweets by Musk on taking Tesla private has come back to haunt him and he stands to lose billions. The plaintiffs have argued that Musk's tweets about taking Tesla private, in which he said he had "funding secured", led them to lose millions of dollars. Musk had earlier admitted in a US court that he ignored his advisors and investors while tweeting about Tesla securing funding in 2018. In August 2018, he had tweeted: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." "Shareholders could either sell at 420 or hold shares &amp; go private," he added. The notorious tweet had cost him his role as Chairman of Tesla. The August 2018 tweet resulted in Musk and Tesla reaching a settlement of fraud charges with the US SEC. The settlement included $40 million in penalties, split equally between the company and Musk, and the removal of Musk as chairman of the Tesla board. SEE ALSO: <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="97596818" title="Paytm founder announces operating profitability, says free cash flow generation is next" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div><div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="97596720" title="India logs 128 fresh Covid cases" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>

Elon Musk cleared of fraud charges in 'Tesla funding secured' case

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An attorney representing shareholders suing Elon Musk accidentally called him "Mr. Tweet" during Musk's testimony.</li><li>The attorney, Nicholas Porritt, said it was a "Freudian slip," but Musk joked it was a fitting name. </li></ul>Elon Musk may have found himself with a new nickname – by mistake. An attorney representing a group of shareholders suing Elon Musk accidentally called him "Mr. Tweet" during a tense moment in Musk's testimony on Monday. The attorney, Nicholas Porritt, called the gaffe a "Freudian slip," but Musk joked it was "probably an accurate description." Musk, who is the CEO and owner of Twitter as of late last year, has never shied away from using the platform. In fact, the interaction between Porritt and Musk came during a trial brought by Tesla shareholders who have accused Musk of committing securities fraud via tweet. Specifically, the shareholders accuse Musk of illegally manipulating Tesla's stock price when he sent a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-may-take-tesla-private-2018-8">2018 tweet</a> saying he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share with "funding secured." Musk defended the tweet in court, maintaining that he "wanted to make sure shareholders would know what my intent was." Musk also said that he believed the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund would "unequivocally" <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blames-saudi-investor-backpedaling-taking-tesla-private-trial-2023-1">help support his plan</a> to take the company private.The deal never happened, and during his testimony, Musk accused the fund of "backpedaling" after the tweet was sent. Catch up with more coverage from the trial:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blames-saudi-investor-backpedaling-taking-tesla-private-trial-2023-1">Elon Musk accuses a major Saudi investor of 'ass-covering' in a trial over his 'funding secured' Tesla tweet</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-quotes-tesla-shareholder-funding-secured-lawsuit-trial-2023-1">Elon Musk just took the stand in a trial over his 'funding secured' tweet — catch up with 8 stand-out quotes from his testimony</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-420-number-has-karma-2023-1">Elon Musk testifies that he thinks the number 420 has 'karma,' but he's not sure if it's 'good or bad'</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-short-seller-height-joke-shareholder-trial-2023-1">Elon Musk made sure the jury knew that short-sellers weren't 'a seller of small stature' during the Tesla shareholder trial</a>

A lawyer accidentally called Elon Musk 'Mr. Tweet' during the Tesla shareholder trial; Musk said it's pretty accurate

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A jury found investors failed to prove Elon Musk derailed them with his tweet that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private, per the WSJ. </li><li>The outcome vindicated Musk, who had argued that he didn't believe his tweet influenced Tesla's stock price.</li></ul>Elon Musk was reportedly vindicated late Friday Friday when a federal jury found that Tesla investors failed to prove that he derailed them with a 2018 tweet that he had <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1026872652290379776" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"funding secured"</a> to take the electric carmaker private, a deal that never materialized. The nine-person jury arrived at the conclusion shortly after deliberations started, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-found-not-liable-in-trial-over-tweets-proposing-to-take-tesla-private-11675464951?mod=breakingnews" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per a Wall Street Journal report.</a> The verdict was the culmination of a civil trial in San Francisco federal court, in which jurors heard testimony from high-profile witnesses <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-quotes-tesla-shareholder-funding-secured-lawsuit-trial-2023-1">including Musk himself</a>, along with Tesla's former chief financial officer Deepak Ahuja, and Musk's former chief of staff Sam Teller. Musk's defense <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blames-saudi-investor-backpedaling-taking-tesla-private-trial-2023-1">highlighted his meeting</a> in July 2018 with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, an official in Saudi Arabia's Private Investment Fund, in which he said Al-Rumayyan had committed to helping to finance the deal. Those verbal assurances in part led him to tweet that he had "funding secured" for a take-private deal for Tesla, he told jurors last month. Nicholas Porritt of Levi &amp; Korsinsky LLP, an attorney for Tesla's shareholders, had challenged that narrative. In closing arguments Friday, Porritt told the jury that a conversation over financing, which he estimated could be to the tune of $60 billion, would have had to at least be put in writing, yet Musk took no notes. "Sometimes we substitute what we wished happened for what actually happened," Porritt argued in court. "That can happen when you're facing government investigations and lawsuits for billions of dollars."Musk's tweet, which he posted in August 2018, read, "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." In closing arguments, Musk's attorney, Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &amp; Sullivan, argued that Musk's adversaries had painted him as a "fire-breathing dragon" and that the billionaire couldn't be faulted for being a "bad Tweeter."Before the trial, US District Judge Edward Chen had ruled that the billionaire's tweets should be considered "untrue," but that jurors had to decide if they were "material." In securities parlance, that meant jurors had to consider whether Musk's statements were significant enough to influence investors' trading choices.Musk's statements about the potential deal also drew <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-226" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the attention of securities regulators</a>, who in September 2018 extracted a $40 million penalty from Musk and the company, and said he could no longer helm Tesla's board. Porritt, the Tesla investors' attorney, had framed the stakes of the case in sweeping, existential terms, arguing that it came down to a question of whether regular investors could trust the public markets. "Whether it is the securities markets or a football game, rules must be fair and must be applied to everyone," he told the court on Friday. "And this case, ultimately, is about whether the rules that apply to everyone else should also apply to Elon Musk."

Elon Musk was reportedly cleared by a federal jury's verdict that his 'funding secured' tweet in 2018 didn't harm Tesla investors

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lawyer-calls-elon-musk-mr-tweet-during-tesla-trial-twitter-2023-1">recently updated</a> his display name to "Mr. Tweet" and says he can't change it back.</li><li>The name refers to an error made by a lawyer during the "funding secured" Tesla trial.</li></ul>Elon Musk says he's stuck with his new Twitter display name — "Mr. Tweet."The billionaire's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lawyer-calls-elon-musk-mr-tweet-during-tesla-trial-twitter-2023-1">recently updated</a> name is a reference to a lawyer's error during a trial over Musk's "funding secured" Tesla tweets.Nicholas Porritt, an attorney representing a group of shareholders who are suing Musk over his 2018 tweets, accidentally called Musk "Mr. Tweet" during the trial on Monday.Porritt called the mistake a "Freudian slip," but Musk joked it was "probably an accurate description." Now Musk says he can't get his old display name back."Changed my name to Mr. Tweet, now Twitter won't let me change it back," he <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1618371072486936578?s=46&amp;t=BW3xZVO-vahqHe8ww8b-rg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> on Wednesday, along with a laughing emoji.Twitter users have complained of having their names locked by the platform before.In November, pop star Doja Cat turned to <a href="https://www.insider.com/doja-cat-begs-elon-musk-change-twitter-name-back-2022-11">Musk for help</a> after she accidentally locked her display name as "christmas." "i don't wanna be christmas forever <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">@elonmusk</a> please help i've made a mistake," she <a href="https://twitter.com/DojaCat/status/1590592859853684736" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> at the time.According to a November report in <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/7/23446171/screen-name-twitter-musk-parody-whoops" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Verge</a>, users who were verified under Twitter's legacy policy weren't able to change their display names on the app. The rule was aimed at preventing impersonation after Twitter's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-sent-musk-risks-paid-verification-before-launch-2022-11">paid verification</a> caused havoc for some brands and public figures. Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.

Elon Musk says he's stuck with his new Twitter name — 'Mr. Tweet'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk testified in a civil trial Monday that he wasn't joking about taking Tesla private at $420 a share.</li><li>He said the price was a roughly "20% premium" over Tesla stock when he tweeted about it in 2018.</li></ul>Elon Musk denied before a jury on Monday that his infamous 2018 tweet about possibly taking Tesla private at a share price of $420 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sec-says-elon-musks-420-price-point-was-a-weed-reference-2018-9">was a joke for the benefit of then-girlfriend Grimes.</a>But he does see significance in the number, which is popular in cannabis culture."There is some, I think, karma around 420," he told Nicholas Porritt, an attorney at Levi &amp; Korsinsky LLP who is representing Tesla investors in a civil class-action lawsuit <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-quotes-tesla-shareholder-funding-secured-lawsuit-trial-2023-1">over his tweet in August 2018</a>, in which <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1026872652290379776" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he'd claimed he had "funding secured"</a> for a potential deal to take Tesla private. "I should question whether that is good or bad karma at this point," Musk added, doubling down on his reference to a concept in Hindu mythology about the consequences of actions in a past life. He insisted however, that the number was not a joke, as financial regulators had alleged at the time. He testified on Monday that the number was a "coincidence," saying it represented a roughly "20 percent premium" over Tesla's stock at the time. The day of his tweet on Aug. 7, 2018, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-may-take-tesla-private-2018-8">the company's stock rose to $371.15</a>. "I don't know if she found it funny or not," Musk testified, referring to his girlfriend at the time, the musician Grimes. "But the 420 price was not a joke."Musk has shown his penchant for "420" marijuana references on other occasions, as the number was also built into the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/musk-seeking-investors-for-twitter-at-5420-a-share-2022-12">$54.20 share price</a> at which he purchased Twitter last year. Musk had made it something of a brand, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-smokes-weed-on-joe-rogan-experience-podcast-2018-9?r=US&amp;IR=T">smoking weed in an appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast</a> in 2018.

Elon Musk testifies that he thinks the number 420 has 'karma,' but he's not sure if it's 'good or bad'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk was cleared Friday by a federal jury over his "funding secured" 2018 tweet to take Tesla private.</li><li>Following the verdict, the billionaire's first words on Twitter were: "Thank goodness."</li></ul>Elon Musk showed his appreciation for the jurors who cleared him after Tesla investors claimed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-wins-trial-over-funding-secured-tesla-tweet-report-2023-2?r=US&amp;IR=T">that his 2018 "funding secured"</a> tweet was meant to intentionally influence investors. "Thank goodness" the billionaire <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1621653950947799042?s=20&amp;t=dAdaiujLyQNUi3EPnmV9EA">tweeted</a> late Friday night following the verdict by a federal jury of nine individuals in the civil trial."The wisdom of the people has prevailed!" the billionaire added. "I am deeply appreciative of the jury's unanimous finding of innocence in the Tesla 420 take-private case."Musk's 2018 tweet, which pushed Tesla's shareholders to launch the costly legal battle against him, read: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." The jurors were asked to decide whether Musk had purposely misguided investors, as the deal did not go through.During the trial, Musk's lawyers described <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blames-saudi-investor-backpedaling-taking-tesla-private-trial-2023-1" rel="">a meeting</a> the tech billionaire held with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, an official in Saudi Arabia's Private Investment Fund, where Musk said Al-Rumayyan pledged to help finance the deal to take Tesla private.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blames-saudi-investor-backpedaling-taking-tesla-private-trial-2023-1">Musk told jurors</a> in January that he trusted Al-Rumayyan's verbal promises, which led to the "funding secured" tweet about taking Tesla private. The investors' attorney, Nicholas Porritt of Levi &amp; Korsinsky LLP, refuted Musk's claims and argued that a conversation of that nature would have some written record. However, Musk's attorney, Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &amp; Sullivan, said in closing arguments that the Tesla founder was being portrayed as a "fire-breathing dragon," and that he couldn't be prosecuted for being a "bad Tweeter."Musk and Spiro didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

Elon Musk says he is 'deeply appreciative' of the jury that cleared him in the Tesla trial, tweeting 'Thank goodness'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk joked that short seller does not stand for "seller of small stature" during his testimony in a trial on Friday.</li><li>The trial was due to a shareholder lawsuit that claimed Musk manipulated Tesla's stock price via a 2018 tweet. </li></ul>Elon Musk couldn't resist making a dig at Tesla short sellers while testifying in a shareholder lawsuit on Friday. When asked by attorney Nicholas Porritt whether short sellers were an issue for Tesla as a public company, Musk replied, "I think most people don't know what short seller means. It's sort of – is it sort of a seller of small stature? Is it like medium and tall sellers," he said before explaining the definition of short selling to the jury. Musk has long been critical of short sellers, who are investors who bet that a company's stock will fall. In 2020, as Tesla's stock was rising, Musk sold <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-sells-red-satin-tesla-short-shorts-2020-7">red satin "short shorts"</a> on the EV-maker's website, seemingly to mock the company's many short sellers. Musk has previously said the practice <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-spacex-ceo-elon-musk-short-selling-should-be-illegal-2019-12-1028733903">should be illegal</a>.During his testimony on Friday, Musk called short selling "a means for, in my opinion, bad people on Wall Street to steal money from small investors" and later called the practice "evil." The trial, held in San Francisco, resulted from a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-tesla-trial-prospective-jurors-2023-1">shareholder lawsuit</a> claiming that Musk manipulated Tesla's share price in 2018 when he tweeted that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private at $420 per share. The automaker's stock shot up due to the tweet, though the deal never happened. At the time of the "funding secured" tweet, Tesla's stock was one of the most-shorted stocks in the US, and some experts have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/07/why-elon-musk-wants-tesla-to-go-private.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused</a> him of intentionally jacking up Tesla's stock price to penalize short sellers.

Elon Musk made sure the jury knew that short-sellers weren't 'a seller of small stature' during the Tesla shareholder trial

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk admitted he didn't have a "specific number" for how much funding was needed to take Tesla private, according to Reuters.</li><li>The billionaire CEO is being sued by Tesla investors for millions of dollars in damages after his notorious "funding secured" tweet.</li></ul>Elon Musk said he didn't have a "specific number" for how much funding was needed to secure his plan to take Tesla off the stock market, admitting he did not have binding commitments from investors.Musk sidestepped "yes" or "no" answers to questions by Nicholas Porritt, a lawyer for the investors, about securing funding pledges by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/musk-set-take-stand-again-trial-over-tesla-funding-tweet-2023-01-24/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report by Reuters</a>. This prompted the judge to step in and ask whether a specific dollar amount, rather than concepts, were discussed."Not a specific number," Musk said in the San Francisco federal court, according to the report.The billionaire CEO is being sued by Tesla investors for millions of dollars in damages after tweeting he had "funding secured" to take the automaker private at $420 per share back in 2018. The company's stock initially surged after the tweet, but fell once it became clear the buyout was a no-go. Earlier this week, Musk testified that he sent out the notorious tweet only after Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia's Private Investment Fund, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blames-saudi-investor-backpedaling-taking-tesla-private-trial-2023-1">had verbally expressed support for the buyout plan, but that the Saudi investor then backpedaled on their plans. </a>He maintained, however, that securing financing was no big deal, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/musk-set-take-stand-again-trial-over-tesla-funding-tweet-2023-01-24/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">telling the jury </a>he could have sought funds from several different sources like existing shareholders including Oracle Corp or <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-tesla-google-standing-interest-court-funding-secured-tweet-2023-1">dipping into his own fortune and selling SpaceX stock.</a>"Funding was absolutely not an issue," Musk said in court on Tuesday. "It was quite the opposite."The jury was shown board meeting documents where Goldman Sachs, which was working with Musk on the proposed buyout at the time, had suggested there would be plenty of funding to privatize the company, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/musk-set-take-stand-again-trial-over-tesla-funding-tweet-2023-01-24/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters reported.</a>Musk also told the court that <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-tesla-google-standing-interest-court-funding-secured-tweet-2023-1">Google had "a standing interest" in buying the car company</a>. As the trial continues into the next week, the jury will be left to decide if Musk can be held liable for his tweets.

Elon Musk admits he didn't have a "specific number" for how much funding was needed to take Tesla private

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk didn't lie but used the "wrong words" in his notorious Tesla funding tweet, his lawyer argued. </li><li>"You will come to learn very soon that this was not fraud, not even close," Alex Spiro said. </li></ul>Elon Musk didn't lie but used the 'wrong words' in his Tesla funding tweet, his lawyer argued in court. Multiple outlets reported on the news. The trial against the Tesla CEO kicked off Wednesday over his tweet back in 2018 that he had "funding secured" to take the electric-vehicle maker private at $420 a share. The deal however never materialized and cost shareholders in the company millions of dollars.Tesla investors sued Musk in a class-action lawsuit, claiming the billionaire <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-stock-price-elon-musk-sued-alleged-attempt-burn-short-sellers-2018-9-1027515279?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets" rel="">manipulated the electric-vehicle maker's share price</a> with his notorious tweet. That's because the automaker's shares surged 11% in price in a matter of hours after Musk's disclosure, before plunging as the deal got questioned. Musk however didn't commit fraud, his lawyer Alex Spiro argued in opening statements at the trial. "You will come to learn very soon that this was not fraud, not even close," Spiro said, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/tesla-shareholders-lay-out-arguments-funding-secured-fraud-trial-2023-01-18/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per Reuters</a>. "In a rush, he used the wrong words," Spiro continued, adding that "he hadn't planned to tweet this."Previously, Musk claimed he thought he had <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-tesla-funding-secured-tweets-case-saudi-arabia-pif-2023-1?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funding secured from Saudi Arabia's Investment Fund</a>. He said he had a handshake deal with the fund to provide the necessary money for Tesla to delist from the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500?utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest&amp;utm_source=markets" rel="">S&amp;P 500</a>. To prevent the news from leaking, Musk made a "split-second decision" to tweet he had funding secured, Spiro argued. But lawyers representing Tesla shareholders claimed Musk should be condemned. "When the CEO of a public company like Tesla lies about his company and hurts investors, it's critical that he is held accountable for that harm that he causes," Nicholas Porritt, lead attorney, said in his opening statement, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3a0fdb51-a65e-4e57-a4c4-649ba3e88097" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Financial Times</a>. "His lies caused regular people like Glen Littleton to lose millions and millions of dollars," he said. Littleton, who represents Tesla shareholders suing Musk chimed in during the trial too. "I was in a state of shock during this time," Littleton told jurors. "'Funding secured' is so definite to me. That was the primary driver," he added. "This represented a threat to my livelihood," he continued. Musk has garnered much attention from his sporadic tweets in the past – and market commentators like Paul Krugman say it's <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/paul-krugman-elon-musk-twitter-takeover-tesla-stock-price-downfall-2023-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hurting Tesla's brand image</a>.

Elon Musk didn't lie but just used the 'wrong words' in his Tesla funding tweet, his lawyer says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk testified Monday in trial sparked by shareholder allegations the Tesla CEO committed securities fraud.</li><li>He said Saudi investors sent "ass-covering" texts and he planned to sell SpaceX stock to take Tesla private.</li></ul>Elon Musk took the stand again Tuesday to defend himself in an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-funding-secured-trial-lawsuit-2023-1">ongoing trial</a> sparked by a class-action shareholder lawsuit that alleges the Tesla CEO committed securities fraud.Investors suing Musk have accused the world's second-richest man of illegally manipulating <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock">Tesla</a>'s stock price in 2018 when he tweeted he had "<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1026872652290379776" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funding secured</a>" to take the company private at $420 a share.Here are 11 things we've learned in the San Francisco trial, from Musk's testimony so far.Cathie Wood told Musk that Tesla investors wouldn't support his plansOn Tuesday, Musk told a court <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-tesla-private-cathie-wood-ark-trial-funding-secured-2023-1">he had scrapped his plans to take Tesla private at $420 a share</a> after a letter from Ark Invest CIO and longtime Tesla bull Cathie Wood showed him that investors wouldn't like the move.Wood's views "represent small investors", Musk said, adding that he "felt it was important to be responsive to their wishes."Musk never had a specific number in mind for how much it would cost to take Tesla privateMusk sidestepped simple "yes" or "no" responses to questions raised by Nicholas Porritt, a lawyer for the investors, about securing funding pledges by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund – prompting the judge to step in and ask whether a specific dollar amount, rather than concepts, were discussed."Not a specific number," Musk said Tuesday. Musk thought a handshake deal meant Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund would back taking Tesla privateYasir Al-Rumayyan, who is the governor of the $620 billion wealth fund, is a central figure in the ongoing trial. Musk thought a handshake with Al-Rumayyan meant the Saudi fund was willing to give him the necessary backing to take Tesla private, he told the court Monday."A signed document is neither here nor there," he said. "If they say they're going to do something, they do it."Musk described Al-Rumayyan as "ass-covering" in later texts backpedaling on the movePrivate texts disclosed in previous court filings show <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-texts-anger-saudi-pif-taking-telsa-private-docs-2022-4">Musk slamming Al-Rumayyan</a> for backing away from the deal. The Tesla boss described the PIF governor saying there had been no signed deal as "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blames-saudi-investor-backpedaling-taking-tesla-private-trial-2023-1">ass-covering, for lack of a better word</a>".Musk planned to sell SpaceX stock when he said he had "funding secured"The Tesla CEO said he <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-spacex-stock-tesla-private-funding-secured-tweet-2023-1">counted on selling stock in the space technology company</a> to take the carmaker private in 2018. He compared the potential sale to his recent offloading of Tesla shares to fund his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter."SpaceX stock alone meant 'funding secured' by itself," he told lawyers in cross-examination Monday. "It's not that I want to sell SpaceX stock, but I could have, and if you look at the Twitter transaction — that is what I did."Google wanted to purchase TeslaTech giant Google had previously had a "<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-tesla-google-standing-interest-court-funding-secured-tweet-2023-1">standing interest</a>" in buying the electric-vehicle maker, which encouraged him to try taking the company private with Saudi funds, Musk testified. He pointed to the interest from Google's parent Alphabet laid down in an earlier deposition.There's a reason Musk wanted to take Tesla private at $420 a shareThe $420 price wasn't a marijuana reference meant for entertain his then-girlfriend Grimes, Musk said, but a 20% premium on Tesla's stock at the time. But <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-420-number-has-karma-2023-1">he did say the number has some significance</a>."There is some, I think, karma around 420," he told the court. "I should question whether that is good or bad karma at this point."Musk sought out advice from Dell's founder as he considered selling TeslaMichael Dell, who took his own tech company private in 2013, was "<a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/key-takeaways-from-musk-s-second-day-of-testimony-in-fraud-trial-1.1873914" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unequivocal</a>" that privatizing Tesla was a good idea, according to Musk. He also said he'd discussed the buyout at a dinner with Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison in 2017.Musk really dislikes short-sellersIn testimony on Friday, the billionaire <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-quotes-tesla-shareholder-funding-secured-lawsuit-trial-2023-1">called for a ban on short-selling</a>, which is when investors make a bet that an asset will fall to a lower price."I believe short-selling should be made illegal," he said. "It is a means for, in my opinion, bad people on Wall Street to steal money from small investors. Not good."Musk doesn't think Tesla shareholders want him to leave TwitterIn October 2018, billionaire Tesla shareholder <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/02/major-tesla-shareholder-ron-baron-investors-would-benefit-if-elon-musk-tweeted-less.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ron Baron said investors would benefit from Musk tweeting less</a>. Musk said that referenced his string of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-comments-ukraine-war-birth-rate-2022-12">controversial comments on current affairs</a>, rather than tweets about Tesla itself. "He's not saying 'don't use Twitter'," Musk said Friday. "He's saying I shouldn't respond to criticism in the news on Twitter."But Musk doesn't believe his own tweets ever affect Tesla's share price: Musk is one of the most active CEOs on Twitter – and in October he took the social-media company private in a chaotic takeover deal. But he doesn't believe that his tweets actually move markets."Just because I tweet something does not mean people believe it or will act accordingly," he said Friday.

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Elon Musk cleared of fraud charges in 'Tesla funding secured' case

IANS

A lawyer accidentally called Elon Musk 'Mr. Tweet' during the Tesla shareholder trial; Musk said it's pretty accurate

Samantha Delouya

Elon Musk was reportedly cleared by a federal jury's verdict that his 'funding secured' tweet in 2018 didn't harm Tesla investors

Sindhu Sundar,Grace Kay

Elon Musk says he's stuck with his new Twitter name — 'Mr. Tweet'

Beatrice Nolan

Elon Musk testifies that he thinks the number 420 has 'karma,' but he's not sure if it's 'good or bad'

Sindhu Sundar

Elon Musk says he is 'deeply appreciative' of the jury that cleared him in the Tesla trial, tweeting 'Thank goodness'

Sam Tabahriti

Elon Musk made sure the jury knew that short-sellers weren't 'a seller of small stature' during the Tesla shareholder trial

Samantha Delouya

Elon Musk admits he didn't have a "specific number" for how much funding was needed to take Tesla private

Zinya Salfiti

Elon Musk didn't lie but just used the 'wrong words' in his Tesla funding tweet, his lawyer says

Zahra Tayeb

Elon Musk on Saudi 'ass-covering' and 10 other things the Tesla boss said to defend himself in the 'funding secured' trial

George Glover

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