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- In testimony at the securities fraud trial, Elon Musk stated that Google had a "standing interest" in Tesla.
- This encouraged Tesla CEO to seek out funds to privatize the EV maker.
- According to a 2015 book Musk and Larry Page, former Google CEO, had a $11 billion deal for Tesla.
Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, told a court Tuesday that Google had an "standing interest" to buy the electric-vehicle manufacturer. This encouraged him to consider taking the company private using Saudi funds.
Marketwatch reported that the billionaire pointed out the interest of Google's parent Alphabet in his earlier deposition. He also defends his 2018 tweet titled "Funding Secured" in a civil trial.
In cross-examination, Musk said to Alex Spiro that this was a factor in his decision to take Tesla private.
A class-action shareholder lawsuit alleging that Musk was guilty of securities fraud by tweeting the incident in San Francisco is the basis for the trial. Musk was accused of manipulating Tesla's stock prices by claiming that he had the funding to take Tesla private for $420 per share.
Musk stated that he had entered into negotiations to take Tesla private with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which he said supported his plan "unambiguously", according Bloomberg.
He described Yasir Al Rumayyan, the governor of the sovereign wealth fund as "backpedaling", referring to verbal promises made to Musk at Tesla's factory. In later texts, the CEO stated that Al-Rumayyan was "ass-covering".
Saudis are second-largest investors in Musk's social media platform company Twitter. He acquired it for $44 Billion in October.
Musk stated that he would have sold SpaceX stock in order to take Tesla private.
According to a 2015 book, Musk had a $11 billion deal to sell Tesla to Google in 2013. However, it was canceled when Musk and Larry Page, former Google CEO, began to argue about details of the deal. This is when Google started to make a profit.
Since then, he has experienced a marked cooling of his relations with Google. Sergey Brin, his co-founder, was to cash in his shares of the automaker. He bought the shares before the company went public in 2010. This came amid reports in the Wall Street Journal that Musk was having an affair.
Musk's claim that he didn't mislead investors by tweeting that he had secured funds to take Tesla private for $420 rests on Musk's assertion that he was truthful in his statement. As the trial continues, Tesla shares have increased more than 14% over the past five days.
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By: rhogg@insider.com (Ryan Hogg)
Title: Elon Musk tells court Google had ‘standing interest’ in buying Tesla, encouraging him to take it private with Saudis
Sourced From: markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-tesla-google-standing-interest-court-funding-secured-tweet-2023-1
Published Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2023 09:37:09 +0000
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