On March 5, according to the New York Times, Elon Musk testified on Wednesday in the Twitter shareholder lawsuit to defend his social media posts in 2022. He testified in the District Court for the Northern District of California that he did not realize at the time that his remarks would severely impact Twitter's stock price.
Musk testifies in San Francisco court
However, the posts prompted some Twitter shareholders to think he might back out of the deal to acquire Twitter. Twitter shareholders later sued Musk, accusing him of trying, but ultimately unsuccessful, to drive down Twitter's stock price to force a renegotiation of the $44 billion deal.
Months before completing his acquisition of Twitter (now known as X), Musk claimed that the platform was riddled with fake accounts known as bots and announced that he would cancel the acquisition.
In a post, he said trading was "on hold." Musk testified that he did not expect the news to cause Twitter's stock price to fall. He likens this statement to saying he is late for a meeting, which does not mean the meeting is cancelled.
"If this were a trial about whether I sent a stupid tweet, I would plead guilty," Musk said. But he still insisted that he did not think the tweet would shake the market at the time. “I don’t think me saying I’m still committed to a deal is going to have any real impact,” he added.
While many companies prefer to settle shareholder disputes, Musk is accustomed to fighting them in court. In 2023, Musk won a lawsuit filed by Tesla investors. The investors said they suffered significant losses after Musk claimed in a social media post in 2018 that he had "secured funding" to take the company private.
Now, he's testifying in a lawsuit filed by former Twitter investors. The investors claimed they were misled by Musk. If the jury rules in favor of investors, Musk could be forced to pay up to $1 billion in damages.