A Delaware judge has ruled that Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, did not become unjustly rich in 2016 when he ordered the electric car maker to seize SolarCity.
Tesla shareholders accuse Musk of forcing the board of directors to buy SolarCity in order to save its investment. They demanded up to $ 13 billion in damages.
The ruling comes at a time when Musk is using his huge fortune to acquire Twitter, which has accepted his $ 44 billion offer. It came at the start of another court ruling that rejected Musk’s attempt to end the oversight of his tweets about Tesla.
“The compelling evidence shows that Tesla paid a fair price. It was worth how much Tesla paid for Solarcity, and this acquisition was very beneficial to Tesla,” Judge Joseph Slats said.
The judgment may be appealed. One of the shareholders’ attorneys said he was evaluating the next steps.
Following the 10-day trial in July, Musk testified for almost two days.
The deal was worth $ 2.6 billion in 2016, including the purchase of all of the company’s shares.
According to Forbes, Musk, the world’s richest man with a net worth of $ 265.6 billion, owned about 22% of both companies at the time.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google News
“Award-winning beer geek. Extreme coffeeaholic. Introvert. Avid travel specialist. Hipster-friendly communicator.”