Elon musk takes witness stand to shield tesla buyout tweets

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday defended his tweets from earlier this month announcing plans to take the company private, saying he did not regret them and that he used social media because he "wanted to be transparent about Tesla's trajectory." In more than four hours of testimony during a court hearing in San Francisco, lawyers for investors suing Musk over the tweets repeatedly asked him, "Regrets?" "No," Musk responded, adding that he believed tweeting was the best way to address concerns and questions among shareholders, who he said were already frustrated at being unable to sell stock. "I'm an engineer, I like to devise a solution," Musk told lawyer Dean Kristy, who represents investors in the class-action suit. The investors claim in the lawsuit that Musk's tweets caused their shares to fluctuate wildly and cost them money.

Updated at 6:40 p.m. ET

Musk was testifying in a lawsuit brought by investors who claim they lost money because of his tweets about taking Tesla private. His lawyers argued that his tweets were not material and did not violate the terms of his agreement with regulators.

In testimony before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk said he thought it would be possible to complete the deal at $420 per share, but said he didn't know explicitly whether this was based on any information from directors or other executives at Tesla. The company's shares fell 2% on Thursday after opening 8% higher following news that short-sellers had taken down more than $6 billion in paper profits following Musk's announcement earlier this month that he wanted to take Tesla private."I'm sure there were people who thought I should've done some due diligence before making such an announcement," said Musk in response to questioning from SEC lawyer Roberta Kaplan during cross examination today."I don't think anyone knows how much is lost here," said Musk when asked if anyone knows what their net worth is after losing such huge amounts due to short selling."The only way we could effectively do this transaction would be through equity ownership," said Musk when asked why he would want more than 50% ownership instead of just being CEO or CTO which could be held accountable for any future disasters caused by him personally rather than being held accountable jointly with others as part owner

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday defended his tweets from earlier this month announcing plans to take the company private, saying he did not regret them and that he used social media because he "wanted to be transparent about Tesla's trajectory."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday defended his tweets from earlier this month announcing plans to take the company private, saying he did not regret them and that he used social media because he "wanted to be transparent about Tesla's trajectory."

"The reason for doing this is because I want there to be no confusion about my intentions," Musk said during a conference call with Wall Street analysts. He added: "This was about transparency."

The billionaire has been under intense scrutiny for his decision to go on Twitter and share details of an abortive proposal that would have led him to take Tesla off public markets.

In more than four hours of testimony during a court hearing in San Francisco, lawyers for investors suing Musk over the tweets repeatedly asked him, "Regrets?"

In more than four hours of testimony during a court hearing in San Francisco, lawyers for investors suing Musk over the tweets repeatedly asked him, "Regrets?"

"I regret that I tweeted," he said. He added that he did not regret anything about his tweet about taking Tesla private at $420 per share.

"No," Musk responded, adding that he believed tweeting was the best way to address concerns and questions among shareholders, who he said were already frustrated at being unable to sell stock.

The company's shares dropped about 2 percent to $197.85 on Monday morning, but have since rebounded slightly.

"I don't think it was a mistake," Musk said of the tweetstorm. "It was something that had to be done and I'm glad I did it."

He added: "I think they would agree with me that it was better than silence, which could've been worse."

"I'm an engineer, I like to devise a solution," Musk told lawyer Dean Kristy, who represents investors in the class-action suit. The investors claim in the lawsuit that Musk's tweets caused their shares to fluctuate wildly and cost them money.

In the lawsuit, Musk is accused of making a false statement on Twitter that "funding had been secured" for Tesla's privatization plan. The investors claim in the lawsuit that Musk's tweets caused their shares to fluctuate wildly and cost them money.

"I'm an engineer, I like to devise a solution," Musk told lawyer Dean Kristy who represents investors in the class-action suit (Kristy didn't respond to requests for comment). "It was difficult because there were so many people affected by it."

The hearing was delayed for hours as lawyers for Musk and the plaintiffs agreed on how much time each side would get to ask questions and whether certain topics could come up. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen chose not to hold Musk in contempt of court after finding his recent tweets do not violate an agreement reached with federal regulators last year.

The hearing was delayed for hours as lawyers for Musk and the plaintiffs agreed on how much time each side would get to ask questions and whether certain topics could come up. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen chose not to hold Musk in contempt of court after finding his recent tweets do not violate an agreement reached with federal regulators last year.

Chen said he would have to hear more evidence before deciding whether Musk violated the settlement, which requires him to resign as Tesla chairman but allows him to remain CEO of its largest shareholder until 2022 or until Tesla goes public via an initial public offering (IPO).

The judge's decision came after a brief hearing Tuesday morning where he also asked if anyone wanted more time before Wednesday's scheduled start time at 11am Eastern Time (9am Pacific). None did so, so there will be no delay from what was originally planned for Tuesday afternoon."

The hearing's outcome could have implications for similar cases involving other executives who have been sued for posting untrue or misleading content on social media. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month announced it will hold public hearings on whether Elon Musk should be fined or punished over his tweets about taking Tesla private in August, but just like this case, the agency has said it may still consider criminal charges against him if those don't work out.

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