Elon Musk, found guilty of manipulating the price of Twitter shares: billions bill for investors
A federal jury in San Francisco ruled on Friday that Elon Musk misled investors by making “intentionally misleading” statements during his 2022 takeover of Twitter. The verdict marks a significant blow to the billionaire after he won a similar lawsuit filed by Tesla shareholders in 2023.
Elon Musk found guilty of manipulating the price of Twitter shares PHOTO: EPA EFE
After two days of deliberations, the jury returned a unanimous verdict against Musk, rejecting his argument that the public would “over-interpreted” posts. The court ruled that the billionaire's claims about problems with fake Twitter accounts and his threat to walk away from the $44 billion deal were “intentionally misleading”, reports BBC.
The court's decision indicates that Musk's statements artificially reduced Twitter's stock price by between $3 and $8 in the months leading up to the acquisition, which could mean thousands of dollars in damages for each investor in the plaintiff class. Monte Mann, commercial litigation attorney at Armstrong Teasdale, said: “If you influence the market with your words, you take the consequences”.
Uncertainty and losses for investors
The jury thus sanctioned Musk's strategy since May 2022, when he claimed that the agreement is “on hold” because of the fake account issues, before announcing he wanted to walk away from the deal entirely. Those months of uncertainty hurt investors like Oregon entrepreneur Brian Belgrave, who testified to a jury that he sold thousands of shares in July 2022, believing Musk would retire. “I was fooled. I was deceivedt,” said Belgrave, who sold at a price well below the $54.20 the billionaire later paid to complete the purchase.
Elon Musk's reaction
During the hearings, Musk took a combative tone and often avoided directly answering the lawyers' questions, but at one point he admitted: “If this was a trial about me writing stupid tweets, I'd say I'm guilty.” The billionaire's legal team described the verdict as a simple one “obstacle in the way” and announced that he would appeal, according to Reuters.
