Elon Musk will reportedly go to trial for his short-lived stint in 2022 when he seemingly attempted to walk away from his agreement to purchase Twitter. As per investors, the billionaire CEO sought to manipulate stock prices during this takeover saga. There are some claims that Musk deliberately tried to undermine Twitter’s value during the purchase.
Elon Musk goes to court for his tweets
A federal trial opening in San Francisco this week will look into Elon Musk’s short-lived attempt to walk away from the Twitter deal, which allegedly impacted stock prices. The billionaire, who acquired the social media platform for $44 billion in the fall of 2022, made several public statements in the months leading to the purchase, which the investors believe undermined Twitter’s value.
According to Bloomberg, this trial will scrutinise the six-month period where Musk went to-and-fro between purchasing the platform, a hostile takeover, and withdrawing from the deal. He completed the purchase after Twitter sued him to enforce a merger agreement.
There are several public remarks that the investors have singled out in their case against the Tesla CEO. In May 2022, for instance, Musk announced that the acquisition was “temporarily on hold.” He attributed his concerns to the numerous fake and spam accounts on Twitter. This led to the stocks falling by nearly 20% in premarket trading. As the uncertainty persisted, the stock prices also went up and down.
Musk is expected to testify in the trial. The trial will also reportedly explore Musk’s history of using social media to communicate market-moving information. Musk has denied any wrongdoing and maintains that he did not mean to lead his investors in the wrong direction. The legal team opposite Musk will have the tough job of proving that Musk intended to depress Twitter’s share price for his own benefit. However, more details about this trial should arrive soon.
