“Hundreds of billions of dollars lost due to volatile tweets” … sue Tesla investor Musk

Input 2021.03.13 08:27

An investor at Tesla, an American electric vehicle company, sued Musk and Tesla’s board of directors, claiming that CEO Elon Musk’s Twitter was exposing him to billions of dollars in investment losses.

An unidentified Tesla investor filed a complaint with the Delaware court in the US, Reuters reported on the 12th (local time).

In the complaint, the complainant wrote that Musk’s “jerky” tweets on May 1st last year, including a post saying Tesla’s stock price was too high, exposed shareholders to billions of dollars in losses. Tesla’s board of directors said that in accordance with the agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk’s tweets should be reviewed, but they did not implement them properly.

In a tweet from Musk in May of last year, the complainant said, “The Tesla market capitalization of $14 billion flew in one day.”

“Musk’s unrestrained tweets have a serious impact on Tesla’s financing capabilities,” he said. “Musk’s tweets are also driving voices inside the company to protect investors against Musk.”

Musk had previously been sued by the SEC after posting a “Tesla delisting” tweet in August 2018. After Wall Street’s negative outlook on Tesla’s stock price at the time, Musk tweeted that “we are considering converting Tesla into a private company for $420 per share.” At the time, Musk and Tesla agreed with the SEC to pay a fine of $40 million in both private and corporate names.

At the time of settlement, Musk agreed to have Tesla’s in-house lawyers check some of his tweets in advance.