{"id":107423,"date":"2026-03-21T10:28:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T10:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/21\/elon-musk-misled-twitter-investors-while-trying-to-get-out-of-acquisition-jury-says\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T10:28:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T10:28:46","slug":"elon-musk-misled-twitter-investors-while-trying-to-get-out-of-acquisition-jury-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/21\/elon-musk-misled-twitter-investors-while-trying-to-get-out-of-acquisition-jury-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk misled Twitter investors while trying to get out of acquisition, jury says"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A civil jury in California on Friday ruled<\/a> that Elon Musk intentionally misled Twitter investors when he tried to back out<\/a> of his $44 billion acquisition of the platform in 2022.<\/p>\n

At the time, Musk had tweeted that Twitter had too many bots, which is why he later tried to renege on the acquisition. (Twitter ended up suing Musk<\/a> to force him to seal the deal.)<\/p>\n

\u201cTwitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam\/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,\u201d Musk wrote on the platform that he has since renamed X.<\/p>\n

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Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam\/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of usershttps:\/\/t.co\/Y2t0QMuuyn<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

In the days after Musk posted this, Twitter shares declined 8%<\/a>. Investor Giuseppe Pampena filed suit against Musk on behalf of other former Twitter investors who had sold Twitter shares between May 13 (the day of the tweet) and October 4, the day the deal was finalized.<\/p>\n

Pampena\u2019s lawsuit<\/a> argued that Musk intentionally posted about his concerns with Twitter to create uncertainty about the platform\u2019s stability to artificially drive down its stock price, causing those who sold shares during that window to suffer losses. Musk\u2019s attorneys argued that he was expressing legitimate concerns about the number of bots on the app. But the jury was more convinced by the plaintiff\u2019s argument.<\/p>\n

It is not yet clear how much money Musk will have to pay to those former Twitter shareholders, but Pampena\u2019s attorney said that damages could reach up to $2.6 billion, according to CNBC<\/a>. It\u2019s not a huge blow for Musk, as Bloomberg<\/a> estimates his net worth at over $660 billion.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t Musk\u2019s first experience going to court over tweets. In 2018, he tweeted that he had secured funding<\/a> to take Tesla private at $420 per share, meaning he planned to buy out public shareholders and delist the company from stock exchanges. The SEC alleged<\/a> that these posts were misleading, charging Musk with securities fraud. Musk later had to testify in court that he was not making a marijuana joke (420 being a widely recognized reference to cannabis) and maintained that he earnestly believed that he would take Tesla private at $420 per share, which was a substantial premium on Tesla\u2019s stock price at that time.<\/p>\n

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Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Musk emerged victorious in a similar lawsuit that shareholders filed about the \u201cfunding secured\u201d tweet, but this time, he\u2019ll have to pay up. <\/p>\n

After acquiring Twitter, Musk rebranded the company as X, then merged it with his newer AI company, xAI<\/a>. The combined company was valued at $113 billion<\/a>, according to Musk. Then, last month, SpaceX merged with xAI<\/a>. Musk has said that the merger was motivated by his desire to build data centers in space.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n