"There can be no dispute that Mr. Musk's tweets caused this loss, caused this drop. The weekslong civil trial has focused primarily on statements Musk made in May 2022, speculating that the number of bots on Twitter was much higher than the company publicly reported, and suggesting that the deal could be put on pause as a result."
"Musk's defense argued his tweets were just him speaking his mind, and not intended to manipulate the market. Defense Attorney Michael Lifrak said Tuesday that Musk's concerns about spam on the site were real, and said that when he asked for information about how Twitter calculated its bot numbers at the May executive meeting, the company clammed up."
"This is about what happened in 2022, whether Mr. Musk engaged in the scheme to defraud, whether he purposely was tanking Twitter's stock price, whether he lied. He didn't. They didn't prove it. If he's found guilty, Musk could be forced to repay more than $2 billion in damages to investors."
A civil securities fraud trial in San Francisco concluded with closing arguments, with a jury now deciding whether Elon Musk engaged in deceptive practices during his 2022 Twitter takeover. The case centers on statements Musk made in May 2022 about bot numbers on Twitter being higher than publicly reported, made after signing a binding agreement to purchase the company at $54.20 per share. Prosecutors argue Musk's tweets caused stock price drops and investor losses. The defense contends Musk's concerns about spam were genuine and his tweets reflected his actual opinions without intent to manipulate markets. Musk never directly requested a price discount. The deal ultimately closed at the original price in October 2022 after Twitter sued to enforce it. If found liable, Musk faces potential damages exceeding $2 billion.
Read at Kqed
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]