SAN FRANCISCO: A US judge has sided with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit filed by Tesla shareholders accusing him of pressuring the electric vehicle company's board of directors into buying SolarCity in 2016.
According to TechCrunch, the shareholders claimed that Tesla's USD2.6 billion all-stock SolarCity transaction constituted to "rescue from financial difficulty, a bailout, organised by Elon Musk," as stated by the plaintiff's attorney, Randy Baron, in a January statement.
Despite finding that Musk "was more involved in the process than a conflicted fiduciary should be," the court finally ruled in favour of the "technoking" on all grounds. According to the article, shareholders can still launch an appeal.
Musk's ties to Solar City were extensive at the time of the deal. Musk's first cousins, Lyndon and Peter Rive, co-founded and co-led the unprofitable solar energy company Solar City, and Musk was the company's largest shareholder and chairman.
Vice-Chancellor Joseph Slights' opinion stated, "The Tesla Board substantially reviewed the Acquisition, and Elon did not stand in its way."
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Tesla loses USD 125 bn in market value as Elon Musk acquires Twitter
If Elon Musk kicks Parag out of Twitter, then he will have to pay such a huge amount