Musk Lawyer Defends ‘Rushed’ Take-Private Tweet at Trial

Investors’ lawyer said there was no plan for $60 billion deal
‘This was not fraud, not even close,’ defense attorney says

Elon Musk
Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

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By Joel Rosenblatt, Hadriana Lowenkron, and Malathi Nayak

January 18, 2023 at 5:31 PM UTC

Updated on

January 18, 2023 at 11:18 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk was on his way to the airport in August 2018 when he made a “split-second decision” to tweet that he was “considering” taking the company private with “funding secured” because he’d just read a news article revealing that Saudi Arabia was investing heavily in the electric-car maker.

That’s the defense his lawyer presented Wednesday to a jury that will decide whether the billionaire entrepreneur defrauded Tesla investors of billions of dollars because they placed big bets on a tweet that turned out to be false.