Tesla was hit by a lawsuit over CEO Elon Musk’s social media posts, including his Twitter poll about stock sales that drove stock prices down. Tesla investor David Wagner called for access to internal documents to investigate whether Tesla and Musk have violated an agreement with the US securities regulator and whether its board members have not complied with their fiduciary obligations.
In 2018, Musk settled a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission over his tweet about taking the company private, agreeing that the company’s lawyers would pre-approve tweets containing material information about the company.
Tesla shares, which had neared record highs, lost their value by about a quarter after Musk said on Nov. 6 that he would sell 10 percent of his stake if Twitter users agreed. Since then, he has sold nearly $14 billion (approximately Rs. 1,06,800 crore) worth of shares so far.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Delaware Court of Chancery, aims to obtain records and books related to his tweets, including documents to identify whether the stock sale tweets were pre-reviewed or pre-approved.
In March, another shareholder sued Musk and his board, accusing him of violating his 2018 settlement with the SEC and exposing shareholders to billions of dollars in losses.
© Thomson Reuters 2021