"Funding Secured"

[mspohr]

This has probably been discussed to death but it looks like the trial is starting today.

Elon Musk and Tesla to begin trial for alleged fraud over ‘funding secured’ tweet

Lawsuit seeks damages for shareholders who bought or sold Tesla stock in the days after Musk’s August 2018 tweets

www.theguardian.com

The defendants have said in court papers that they will argue that Musk had good reason to believe funding for the deal was secured.

Investors sued in August 2018, shortly after Musk posted on Twitter that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share. “Funding secured,” he said.

In another tweet the same day he wrote: “Investor support is confirmed,” adding, “only reason why this is not certain is that it’s contingent on a shareholder vote.”

So, this looks like Elon's defense is that he did have funding and wanted to ask shareholders first. Shareholders said "no" so the deal didn't go through.
I know very little about finance law but this seems like a reasonable defense. However, most of the press seems to think that he and the board will lose.
If they do lose, what would investors get since the stock has been up and down all over the place since then?

 

[mspohr]

‘A little off his rocker’: jurors grilled over views of Elon Musk for shareholder trial

The shareholder case against the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, got off to a slow start yesterday as potential jurors who variously described the controversial tech billionaire as “narcissistic”, “unpredictable”, “a little off his rocker”, “a genius” and “another arrogant rich guy” were questioned about their impartiality by the judge. But by the end of the day nine jurors had been selected to sit on the jury for the San Francisco trial

What was the impact of his tweets? Musk’s 2018 tweets fueled a rally in the company’s stock price that abruptly ended a week later after it became apparent that he did not have the funding for a buyout after all. Investors then sued him, saying that Tesla shares would not have swung so widely in value if he had not dangled the prospect of buying the company for $420 a share.


So,  this paper thinks ... it became apparent that he did not have the funding
That is the question.

 

[Rarity]

Has anybody seen a transcript or twitter readout of Musk's testimony yesterday?

 

[mspohr]

Musk tells court Saudis ‘unequivocally’ backed plan to take Tesla private

Elon Musk testifies at trial accusing him of defrauding investors by driving up the price of Tesla stock with his tweets

www.theguardian.com

 

[mspohr]

Yahoo Finance: U.S. jury finds Tesla and Musk not liable in case over take-private tweet. U.S. jury finds Tesla and Musk not liable in case over take-private tweet

(Reuters) - A U.S. jury on Friday found Tesla Inc and CEO Elon Musk not liable in a securities fraud case over a tweet that he had lined up funding to take the electric car company private. Plaintiffs have claimed billions in damages and the decision also had been seen as important for Musk himself, who has aggressively fought any charges that he was guilty and defended his ability to tweet broadly.