Elon Musk takes stand for 3rd day in Tesla investors lawsuit
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk returned to the stand for a third day Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco to testify in a trial stemming from a class action lawsuit brought by Tesla investors who allege he misled them with a tweet.
The 51-year-old billionaire resumed his staunch defense centering on two 2018 tweets indicating testified the day before that he lined up the money to take Tesla private under the friendly questioning of his own lawyer, Alex Spiro.
While being grilled Monday by an attorney representing Tesla shareholders, Musk at times was combative, indignant and exasperated. Through it all, Musk has insisted he had locked up financial backing for what would have been a $72 billion buyout of Tesla during 2018 meetings with representatives from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, although no specific funding amount or price was discussed.
When presented with texts and email indicating that a representative for the Saudi fund had never pledged the money for a full buyout of Tesla, Musk colorfully contended it was nothing more than the words of someone trying to backpedal from a previous pledge made in private conversations.
He also testified that he could have easily sold some of his holdings in SpaceX, a rocket ship maker that Musk also owns, to pay for a Tesla buyout — a tactic that he hadn't publicly floated at the time he proposed the deal.
In the class action lawsuit, Tesla investors allege Musk, who has since taken Twitter in a $44 billion buyout, misled them with a tweet saying funding was secured to take his electric car company private — for $420 per share. But the deal never came close to happening, and the tweet resulted in a $40 million settlement with securities regulators.
The trial hinges on whether a pair of tweets that Musk posted...