Elon Musk misled Twitter investors ahead of acquisition, jury says

A California jury on Friday concluded that Elon Musk misled Twitter investors ahead of his $44 billion acquisition of the social media giant in 2022.

Jurors in federal court in San Francisco found on Friday that Musk intentionally misled Twitter shareholders when he tweeted the social media network, which was later renamed X, had too many fake accounts and tried to back out of the deal.

Musk has on multiple occasions chosen to battle shareholders in court rather than settle, including in a 2023 trial concerning his electric car company Tesla and litigation over his $139 billion Tesla pay package.

He won both cases. Musk is now also in talks to settle a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil lawsuit accusing him of violating federal law by waiting too long in 2022 to disclose his initial purchases of Twitter so he could scoop up more before investors caught on.

The current trial in San Francisco began on March 2. The lawsuit covers investors who sold Twitter stock between May 13 and Oct. 4, 2022.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Reuters contributed to this report.