Elon Musk to Continue Testifying in Defense of His Tweets at Tesla Trial

Elon Musk will continue his defense against claims that his tweets caused Tesla investors to lose millions of dollars in court on Monday. Musk has said that the tweets were not intended to mislead investors, and that he stands by them.
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In his first minutes on the witness stand Friday, the renowned entrepreneur and prolific Twitter user offered a modest assessment of his influence on the social media network that he now owns. He said that just because he tweets about something doesn't mean people believe it or will act accordingly.
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Musk's testimony showed that he downplayed his role in Tesla's stock price surge after tweeting on August 7, 2018 that he had "funding secured" to take the company private at $420 per share. He added that "investor support is confirmed."
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The court adjourned on Friday before the lawyer for investors, Nicholas Porritt, could ask Musk directly about the contents of the tweets. On Monday, Porritt is expected to focus on his theme that Musk actually had no deal in place for what would have been a $60 billion transaction.
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Musk has said he believed he had financing in place based on a commitment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Text messages between Musk and the sovereign wealth fund’s governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, are evidence at the trial. Their exchange, a few days after the tweets shocked markets, shows Musk upset because he thought Al-Rumayyan was walking away from a handshake agreement.
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Al-Rumayyan tells Musk that the PIF can't make a commitment without more information. He says he's been waiting for additional details.
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Porritt is likely to question Musk about how he could have possibly thought financing was in place.
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Porritt told jurors last week in opening arguments that the evidence will show that the Public Investment Fund and its discussions with Mr. Musk had never committed any funding in those discussions. He said that the amount of funding and the price at which Tesla would go private "had not even been discussed."
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Porritt could also try to get Musk worked up by pointing out how his take-private plan quickly fell apart.
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Guhan Subramanian, an expert witness who teaches business and law at Harvard University, said that the plan was an "extreme outlier" that didn't conform to industry standards. He told jurors Friday that the time from Musk making his pitch to Tesla's board to his public disclosure was five days - which the professor called an "incredibly short timeline" compared with 151 days between those steps in the 2013 deal to take Dell Inc. private.
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Musk did not consult with legal or financial advisers before disclosing details on Twitter, and Tesla's board allowed him to tweet without any "guardrails," Subramanian said.
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It is troubling that important public information that is relevant to the market is being communicated through this fairly casual channel, he said.
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Musk is scheduled to testify at around 8:30 a.m. local time. After Porritt finishes questioning him, Musk's own lawyers will have a turn. Court filings suggest that when Musk's testimony is finished, the jury will hear from an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co., followed by Tesla's head of investor relations.