A US jury has ruled that Elon Musk is liable for misleading investors during his high-profile $44 billion takeover of Twitter in 2022. The decision comes after a long-running legal battle brought by shareholders who claimed his public statements caused confusion and financial losses.
The case focused mainly on a series of tweets Musk posted in May 2022, including one where he said the deal was “on hold” due to concerns about fake or spam accounts on the platform. According to the jury, these statements were inaccurate and had a direct impact on Twitter’s share price, which fluctuated sharply at the time.
Investors argued that such posts influenced market sentiment and led some shareholders to sell their stock at lower prices, resulting in losses. The jury agreed that Musk’s comments were misleading and played a role in affecting investor decisions during a critical phase of the acquisition.
However, the ruling stopped short of fully backing claims that Musk carried out a deliberate fraud scheme. While he was found responsible for making misleading statements, the jury did not conclude that he intentionally planned to deceive investors on a large scale.
The lawsuit also claimed that Musk’s repeated criticism of Twitter’s business, particularly his focus on the number of bot accounts — was an attempt to renegotiate the deal or lower the purchase price. Musk had initially tried to back out of the acquisition before eventually completing it later in 2022 at the agreed value.
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