Musk responsible for Twitter investors’ stock dropping when he bought company, jury rules
A California jury has ruled that Elon Musk is responsible for Twitter investors’ stock plummeting when he sought to buy the social media platform for $44bn in 2022,Jurors handed the win to a group of investors who sued the billionaire saying he publicly disparaged the company with the aim of bringing down Twitter’s stock price to get a better bargain,The trial, which began earlier this month in federal court in San Francisco, focused on whether Musk intended to move the market with his comments,During a six-month period in 2022, after his offer to buy Twitter, he posted constantly to his millions of followers that the social network was rife with bots that produced spam and created fake accounts,Musk did eventually buy Twitter for $54.
20 a share, his original offer, totaling around $44bn.He later changed the name of the company to X.The verdict is an unusual loss for Musk, who repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.Throughout the trial, his lawyers maintained he was voicing legitimate concerns and had no intention to manipulate the stock price.Musk testified during trial that he didn’t realize his attacks on the company would lower the company’s stock price or hurt its investors.
Jurors, who spent three days deliberating, saw it differently.The jury calculated how much Musk’s statements brought down Twitter’s stock price for every trading day over the time period in question.The exact amount Musk will be ordered to pay to the investors, which could amount to billions of dollars, is yet to be decided.The billionaire’s current net worth is $661bn.“We are thrilled with the jury’s decision today,” said Mark Molumphy, lawyer for the Twitter investors.
“We believe that it is the largest securities jury verdict in United States history,The jury sent a strong message that no one is above the law,”Two of the four fraud claims brought in the suit were confirmed by the jury, and two were rejected,Jurors also found that Musk did not engage in a “scheme to defraud Twitter investors”,“The jury clearly took a nuanced view, which tells you these cases are incredibly fact-specific,” said Monte Mann, a lawyer for Armstrong Teasdale, who’s been watching the case and is not involved in the litigation.
“Not every market-moving statement creates liability – but context, timing and intent can tip the balance,”In a written statement, Musk’s legal team called the verdict “a bump in the road” and said they “look forward to vindication on appeal”, citing recent appeals he’s won in other suits,During the six months under scrutiny, roughly from April to October 2022, the investors alleged Musk agreed to buy Twitter but then waffled for months, attacking the company,At one point, in May 2022, he indicated he was backing out of the purchase with a tweet that said the buyout was “temporarily on hold”,Twitter’s shares dropped precipitously over the next 24 hours, at times falling by 20%.
The stock continued to be unstable for months.Investors involved in the lawsuit say they sold their shares at prices below $54.20 when they thought Musk’s buyout offer was dissolving.During the trial, Aaron Arnzen, a lawyer for the investors, maintained that Musk knew exactly what he was doing.“He wanted a different deal,” Arnzen said.
“So he mounted a public spectacle to trash the company, to drive the stock price down, to renegotiate or escape the deal.”
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Trump’s economic shocks are derailing Britain’s building plans
Donald Trump has done his best to crush the green shoots of the global, post-pandemic economic recovery – nowhere more so than in the UK.The US president’s vandalism can be seen across the economic landscape, especially in the property sector, which has become more sensitive to international events since the spread of Covid-19 disrupted long-established supply chains and sent the cost of raw materials soaring.What should be a strictly domestic consideration – what to build and where – has been shaped by the backwash from one geopolitical crisis after another, inducing a long period of stasis.The latest UK industry statistics come hot on the heels of Trump’s attack on Iran.The data provider Glenigan said last week the value of new projects had dropped by more than a third in the three months to the end of February
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Iran war should be wake-up call about costs of not going full throttle towards EVs as Chinese have done, experts sayBy the 1980s, Detroit’s once titanic carmakers were being upended by rivals from Japan. Ford, General Motors and Chrysler had grown rich selling gas guzzlers, but when oil prices rose and suddenly cheap, fuel-efficient Japanese models looked attractive, they were unprepared. The collapse in sales led to hundreds of thousands of job losses in the automotive heartland of the US.Now western car manufacturers are making what one former boss calls a similar “profound strategic mistake” as they pull back from electric vehicles (EVs) and refocus on the combustion engine just as oil prices are soaring once again. Experts say the industry’s future – and that of tens of millions of jobs – could be on the line
US interest in electric vehicles surges as gas prices jump amid Iran war
US car buyers are showing a surge in interest in electric vehicles after Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran helped cause a major jump in gasoline prices.The cost to refuel a vehicle in the US is at its highest level in nearly three years, with the average national price of gas standing at $3.90 a gallon on Friday.This increase has been driven by the rising global cost of oil in the wake of the US and Israel’s bombing of Iran, a major oil producer. The conflict has resulted in the strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway that conveys around a fifth of the world’s oil, being shut off by Iran
‘It’s come at the wrong time’: how Iran war has floored the Gulf as a sports hub
The sight of Nasser al-Khelaifi grounded in Doha when Paris Saint Germain hosted Chelsea in the last-16 of the Champions League last week provided a symbolic illustration of the fragility of the Gulf’s sports project amid the conflict in the Middle East.Al-Khelaifi is the president of PSG, the chair of Qatar Sports Investments and, most crucially, the European Football Clubs, a lobby group that, along with Uefa, runs the Champions League. He is seen as the second-most powerful individual in world football, after the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino. Yet, with Qatari airspace closed, the 52-year-old was forced to miss his first PSG match for years.After watching PSG’s thrilling 5-2 victory in the first leg on the sports channel of the global TV network he also chairs, BeIN Media Group, Al-Khelaifi made it to London to watch Luis Enrique’s side inflict further misery on Chelsea with a 3-0 win in the second leg at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday
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