Musk found liable for misleading shareholders

A federal jury in the U.S. has ruled that Elon Musk is liable for misleading Twitter shareholders during his bid to take over the company in 2022. According to the verdict, he tried to influence the stock price downward so he could change the terms or back out of the $44 billion deal.

The San Francisco court was mainly considering Musk's statements about the number of fake accounts on the platform. The jury found him liable on two occasions - when he claimed the acquisition was "temporarily on hold" and when he claimed the bot share could be much higher than 20 percent.

They have not yet set the amount of damages, but shareholder lawyers estimate the damages at up to $2.5 billion. Musk's lawyers have disputed the verdict and announced an appeal.

The entrepreneur eventually bought Twitter in October 2022 and renamed it X. The case is one of several disputes the billionaire is pursuing with investors.

(reuters, lud)