Twitter investors are suing Elon Musk over the delay in disclosing his stake in Twitter to the SEC before he submitted his offer for the company he is twittering.
Investors accuse Musk of saving $ 156 million by failing to promptly disclose that he has crossed Twitter’s 5% threshold by March 14. Tesla’s boss only announced in early April that he owns 9.2% of the company. “By delaying communication, Musk manipulated the market and bought Twitter stocks at an artificially low price,” reads the lawsuit.
Neither Musk nor his lawyer replied. Twitter also declined to comment.
Investors said Tesla’s recent decline in stock has put Musk’s ability to finance the Twitter acquisition in “grave jeopardy” as he pledged his shares as collateral to secure the loans he needs to. buy the company.
Tesla shares were trading at around $ 700 on Thursday afternoon, up 6% daily but down sharply from $ 1,000 at the start of April.
The timing with which Musk announced his participation has already triggered an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the US Consob. The SEC requires any investor who purchases more than 5% stake in a company to disclose their holdings within 10 days of crossing the threshold.