A court has found that Elon Musk defrauded Twitter investors by misleading them about the social media firm's value, which could result in him owing hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars in damages.
A recent ruling from a federal court in San Francisco determined that billionaire Elon Musk misled Twitter investors when he made allegations about the platform having too many fake accounts. This undermined the company's value and allowed him to negotiate a lower purchase price during his acquisition campaign, which originally stood at $44 billion. The court concluded that Musk's tweets aimed at disparaging the platform constituted intentional deception directed at the shareholders. Consequently, he attempted to withdraw from the acquisition deal, leading to the court's ruling against him.
The court's decision will lead to a calculation of damages that Musk will need to compensate individual investors, with the specific amounts pending further disclosures from the shareholders regarding their claims. For roughly five months, jurors assessed how Musk's public statements adversely impacted Twitter's stock price. As a result, the financial implications for Musk could escalate into hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, marking a significant legal blow for him.
This ruling represents an unusual legal defeat for Musk, who is often referred to as
