Elon Musk Scores Major Legal Victory in Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Tweets

👤Elon Musk dodged a multibillion-dollar bullet on Friday as a jury ruled that he was not liable for any losses Tesla investors suffered after Musk posted on Twitter in 2018 that he would take the electric vehicle company private.

The $72 billion deal never took place, and shareholders subsequently accused Musk of misleading them, according to the BBC.

Two posts by Musk from August 2018 sent Tesla stock soaring, The New York Times reported.

In one, Musk wrote, “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.” He followed that with, “Investor support is confirmed. Only reason why this is not certain is that it’s contingent on a shareholder vote.”

Three weeks later, the stock plummeted because the deal never happened.

The San Francisco jury deliberated for less than two hours before reading their verdict, according to the BBC.

Musk might have been on the hook for billions of dollars in damages had he lost the case.

Judge Edward Chen, who was hearing the civil suit, had ruled that the words “funding secured” in the first post and Musk’s entire second post were not true, and that Musk was reckless when he posted them.

Do you agree with the jury's decision? Yes