US Jury Rules "No Liability for Musk's 2018 'Tesla Delisting' Tweet" Verdict

Elon Musk [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] A jury verdict was reached on the 4th (Korean time) stating that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, is not liable to compensate investors for tweeting false information about considering taking the company private in 2018 and having secured the necessary funding.

According to major U.S. media outlets, the jury at the U.S. Northern District Court of California in San Francisco delivered a unanimous verdict after three weeks of trial and two hours of deliberation by nine jurors. After the verdict, Musk tweeted, "The wisdom of the people has prevailed."

On August 7, 2018, just before boarding his private jet, Musk tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private and had secured the necessary funding. A few hours later, he tweeted as if the deal was imminent. Musk claimed that after meeting with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, head of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), for 45 minutes at the Tesla factory on July 31, 2018, he was confident that the funding needed to take Tesla private was secured. However, no evidence supported this claim.

He stated plans to buy shares at $420 per share, a 23% premium over the previous day's closing price. This required an enormous amount of money ranging from $20 billion to $70 billion (approximately 25 trillion to 87 trillion KRW), but it was later revealed that Musk had not actually secured investment commitments.