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Musk triumphs in lawsuit as jury rejects Tesla investor claims over tweets

"Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured," Musk tweeted on Aug. 7, 2018.

Published: February 3, 2023 6:12pm

Updated: February 3, 2023 6:20pm

Tesla founder Elon Musk on Friday triumphed in a lawsuit company investors brought against him over a 2018 tweet suggesting he was mulling an effort to take his electric vehicle firm private.

"Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured," Musk tweeted on Aug. 7, 2018. "Investor support is confirmed. Only reason why this is not certain is that it’s contingent on a shareholder vote," he later added.

Investors in the company had alleged that Musk's comments prompted them to make decisions off of his statements, for which the jury ultimately determined Musk was not responsible, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Musk previously settle with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the tweets, but has since indicated he felt pressured to do so. In court, he asserted that he had been confident at the time that he did have the funding to make good on the proposed deal.

Such a deal never materialized.

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