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- According to Reuters, Elon Musk acknowledged that he did not have a "specific figure" for how much funding was required to take Tesla private.
- Tesla investors are suing the billionaire CEO for millions in damages following his famous tweet "Funding Secured".
- Musk stated that funding was not an issue. Musk said, "It was exactly the opposite."
Elon Musk admitted that he did have a specific number for how much money was required to finance his plan to take Tesla off of the stock exchange, but he also acknowledged that he did not have binding commitments to investors.
According to Reuters, Musk eschewed simple "yes" and "no" answers to questions posed by Nicholas Porritt (a lawyer for investors) about securing funding pledges from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth funds. The judge intervened to ask if a dollar amount was being discussed, instead of concepts.
According to the report, Musk stated that "not a specific amount" in San Francisco Federal Court.
Tesla investors are suing the billionaire CEO for millions in damages. He tweeted that he had "funding secured", to take the automaker private at $420 per shares back in 2018. Initial stock surged following the tweet but then fell when it became apparent that the buyout was not a good idea.
Musk stated earlier this week that he sent the famous tweet after Yasir Al-Rumayyan (the governor of Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund) had verbally supported the buyout plan. However, the Saudi investor later backed off from their plans.
However, he maintained that the financing was not a major issue, telling the jury that he could have sought funding from multiple sources, including existing shareholders like Oracle Corp, or by dipping into his fortune and selling SpaceX stock.
Musk stated in court Tuesday that funding was not an issue. It was the exact opposite.
According to Reuters, the jury was shown documents from board meetings in which Goldman Sachs, who was working with Musk at the time on the proposed buyout, suggested that there would be enough money to privatize the company.
Musk also stated to the court that Google held a "standing interest" in the purchase of the car company.
The trial will continue into the next week and the jury will decide if Musk is liable for his tweets.
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By: zsalfiti@insider.com (Zinya Salfiti)
Title: Elon Musk admits he didn’t have a “specific number” for how much funding was needed to take Tesla private
Sourced From: markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-tesla-funding-secured-tweet-case-saudi-google-spacex-2023-1
Published Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2023 16:59:03 +0000
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