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TechElon Musk

Elon Musk takes a victory lap after dodging billions in potential damages from a high-profile Tesla investor suit: ‘The wisdom of the people has prevailed’

By
Verne Kopytoff
Verne Kopytoff
Senior Editor, Tech
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By
Verne Kopytoff
Verne Kopytoff
Senior Editor, Tech
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 3, 2023, 7:34 PM ET
Elon Musk.
Elon Musk. NDZ/Star Max/GC Images

Elon Musk took a victory lap after a jury ruled in his favor Friday in a Tesla investor lawsuit that could have cost him billions of dollars.

A San Francisco jury said that Musk didn’t deceive investors when he tweeted in 2018 that he had ‘funding secured’ to take Tesla private. The investors had claimed they’d lost billions because they had believed that Musk was about to pay a premium for Tesla’s shares when, in fact, he never had the outside financing to do so.

“Thank goodness, the wisdom of the people has prevailed! I am deeply appreciative of the jury’s unanimous finding of innocence in the Tesla 420 take-private case,” Musk tweeted, referring to the share price he purportedly was willing to pay in the deal and a number that also doubled as a marijuana joke.

Thank goodness, the wisdom of the people has prevailed!

I am deeply appreciative of the jury’s unanimous finding of innocence in the Tesla 420 take-private case.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2023

Musk, who has since acquired Twitter and spends much of his day on the service musing about whatever crosses his mind, continued his celebratory tweeting on Friday by responding to a fellow Twitter user. She had expressed shock that a jury in San Francisco, home to a “communist school board,” would side with Musk and that it showed the city had some hope if “the woke mind virus” was eliminated—a topic right in Musk’s increasingly conservative wheelhouse.

“You’re right,” Musk told her before moving on to other topics.

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About the Author
By Verne KopytoffSenior Editor, Tech
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Verne Kopytoff is a senior editor at Fortune overseeing trends in the tech industry. 

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