Musk Sued by Twitter Investors for Stock Manipulation During Takeover Bid

[Pelican Press 0]

Musk Sued by

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Investors for Stock Manipulation During Takeover Bid

Billionaire Elon Musk was sued by

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

investors claiming he manipulated the company’s stock price downward, as the chief executive of electric carmaker Tesla mounts a $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,41,552 crore) takeover bid for the social media platform.

The investors said Musk saved himself $156 million (roughly Rs. 1,211 crore) by failing to disclose that he had purchased more than 5 percent of

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

by March 14. They asked to be certified as a class and to be awarded an unspecified amount of punitive and compensatory damages.

They also named

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

as a defendant, arguing the company had an obligation to investigate Musk’s conduct, though they are not seeking damages from the firm.

The investors said Musk continued to buy stock after that, and ultimately disclosed in early April that he owned 9.2 percent of the company, according to the lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in San Francisco federal court.

“By delaying his disclosure of his stake in

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, Musk engaged in market manipulation and bought

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

stock at an artificially low price,” said the investors, led by Virginia resident William Heresniak.

Neither Musk nor his lawyer immediately responded to requests for comment.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

declined to comment.

The investors said the recent drop in Tesla’s stock has put Musk’s ability to finance his acquisition of

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

in “major peril” since he has pledged his shares as collateral to secure the loans he needs to buy the company.

Tesla’s shares were trading at around $713 (roughly Rs. 55,350) on Thursday afternoon, down from above $1,000 (roughly Rs. 77,600) in early April.

The timing of Musk’s disclosure of his stake has already triggered an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month.

The SEC requires any investor who buys a stake exceeding 5 percent in a company to disclose their holdings within 10 days of crossing the threshold.

The investors also said public criticism by Musk of the company, including a May 13 tweet stating the buyout was “temporarily on hold” until

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

proved that spam bots accounted for less than 5% of its users, amounted to an attempt to further drive the share price down.

Musk on Wednesday pledged an additional $6.25 billion (roughly Rs. 48,500 crore) in equity financing to fund his bid for

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, a sign he is still working to complete the deal.

Musk was sued earlier this month in Delaware Chancery Court by a Florida pension fund seeking to halt the deal on the basis that some other big

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

shareholders were supporting the buyout, a violation of Delaware law. Heresniak’s lawsuit does not seek to stop the takeover.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

---

Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

elon musk sued

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

investors over stock manipulation during takeover bid elon musk,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,tesla
#Musk #Sued #

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Investors #Stock #Manipulation #Takeover #Bid

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up