Elon Musk told the court he was ‘simply speaking my mind’ and believed the platform had misrepresented bot numbers
Elon Musk testified in a shareholder trial in San Francisco on Wednesday, rejecting claims that his tweets misled investors during his $44 billion takeover of X (formerly Twitter) in 2022.
Shareholders allege Musk made false statements to push the company’s stock price down while trying to delay or negotiate to get a better deal.
The lawsuit, filed in October 2022 in the District Court for the Northern District of California, represents shareholders who sold Twitter stock between May 13 and October 4, 2022.
On May 13, Musk tweeted that the deal was “temporarily on hold” pending details on fake accounts. Twitter’s stock fell nearly 10% that day and later dropped to $36.81 in July, about 32% below Musk’s $54.20 offer price.
Musk told the court he was “simply speaking my mind” and believed the platform had misrepresented bot numbers. He further added that he didn’t mean to harm investors.
He eventually completed the acquisition in October 2022.