By BARBARA ORTUTAY and MICHAEL LIEDTKE
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk took the stand in a shareholder trial on Wednesday in San Francisco, where he’s accused of making false and misleading statements that drove down Twitter’s stock price before he bought the social media platform for $44 billion in 2022.
Related Articles
Everything you need to know about Apple’s ‘big week’ of product launches California’s split economic sees growth, jobs lagging, UCLA says Supply chain disruptions from the Iran war could raise prices for drugs, electronics and more How to save money: 14 easy tips California jobs mystery: Jobless claims dip as layoffs surgeThe lawsuit was filed in October 2022 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of Twitter shareholders who sold the stock between May 13 and Oct. 4, 2022, a few weeks before Musk’s purchase of Twitter was finalized. It claims Musk violated federal securities laws by making false, public statements that “were carefully calculated to drive down the price of Twitter stock.”
The billionaire Tesla CEO reached a deal to buy Twitter and take it private in April 2022. On May 13, however, he declared his plan “temporarily on hold” and said he needs to pinpoint the number of spam and fake accounts on the platform. Twitter’s stock tumbled as a result. A few days later, he tweeted that the deal “cannot go forward” and claimed that almost 20% of Twitter accounts were “fake,” according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiff’s lawyer began with questioning Musk about his tweets — or lack of tweets — about his decision to buy Twitter and his purchases of Twitter stock prior to deciding to take the company private.
Wearing a black suit and tie, Musk said he didn’t think it was “material” when, in early 2022, he began amassing Twitter stock and did not tweet about it or disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission. He said he’s bought stock in “many companies” and did not post about it.
Once he did, Twitter’s stock jumped 27% in one day.
“That sounds high,” Musk said.
Musk’s May 13 tweet — “Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users” — was “false because the buyout was not, in fact, ‘temporarily on hold,’” the lawsuit says. That’s because Twitter did not agree to put the deal on hold, and there was nothing in the merger agreement the two parties signed that allowed Musk to put it on hold, according to the lawsuit.
In the following weeks, Musk continued to try to delay or get out of the deal, which the lawsuit claims he did in the form of false, disparaging statements about Twitter’s business that drove the San Francisco company’s stock down sharply.
In July 2022, Musk doubled down on the bots issue and said he would abandon his offer to buy Twitter after the company failed to provide enough information about the number of fake accounts. That’s even though the lawsuit notes that Musk waived due diligence for his “take it or leave it” offer to buy Twitter. That means he waived his right to look at the company’s nonpublic finances.
The stock closed at $36.81 on July 8, when Musk tweeted he was abandoning the deal over the fake accounts issue. That’s 32% below Musk’s offer price of $54.20 per share.
Elon Musk, center rear, arrives for a Twitter shareholder trial at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez) Elon Musk, left, arrives for a Twitter shareholder trial at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez) Elon Musk, center, arrives for a Twitter shareholder trial at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez) Elon Musk, center, arrives for a Twitter shareholder trial at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez) FILE – Elon Musk attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File) Show Caption1 of 5Elon Musk, center rear, arrives for a Twitter shareholder trial at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez) Expand“To try to renegotiate the price or delay the merger, Musk made materially false and misleading statements and omissions, and engaged in a scheme to deceive the market, all in violation of the law,” the lawsuit says.
The problem of bots and fake accounts on Twitter wasn’t new. The company had paid $809.5 million in 2021 to settle claims it was overstating its growth rate and monthly user figures. Twitter also disclosed its bot estimates to the Securities and Exchange Commission for years, while also cautioning that its estimate might be too low.
Twitter sued Musk to force him to complete the deal, and Musk countersued. On Oct. 4, Musk offered to go through with his original proposal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, which Twitter accepted. The deal closed later that month. In the ensuing months, Musk slashed the company’s workforce, gutted its trust and safety team and rolled back content moderation policies. In July 2023, he renamed Twitter as X.
This isn’t the first time that Musk has been dragged into court to defend himself against allegations of duping investors with his social media posts. Three years ago, Musk spent about eight hours testifying in a San Francisco federal trial about his plans to buy Tesla — the electric automaker that he still runs as publicly traded company — for $420 per share in a proposed 2018 deal that never materialized. A nine-member jury absolved Musk of wrongdoing in that case.
Hence then, the article about elon musk takes stand in twitter shareholder trial accusing him of deflating stock before purchase was published today ( ) and is available on The Orange County Register ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Elon Musk takes stand in Twitter shareholder trial accusing him of deflating stock before purchase )
Also on site :