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Elon Musk’s attorneys argue that the trial should be moved to a federal court in western Texas, which includes the state capital of Austin. Susan Walsh/The Associated Press Elon Musk has urged a federal judge to shift a trial in a shareholder lawsuit out of San Francisco because he says negative local media coverage has biased potential jurors against him. Instead, in a filing submitted late Friday, Musk’s lawyers argue that the trial should be moved to a federal court in western Texas, which includes the state capital of Austin. Musk relocated his electric car company, Tesla, to Austin in late 2021. If a move isn’t possible, Musk’s lawyers urged that the trial, scheduled to begin Jan. 17, be postponed until negative publicity around Musk’s purchase of Twitter has died down. “For the last several months, the local media have saturated this district with biased and negative stories about Mr. Musk,” attorney Alex Spiro wrote in a court filing. Those items have personally blamed Musk fo...

Elon Musk is set to become the rare CEO to fight a securities class action at trial next week, where he will defend his 2018 tweet announcing he had “funding secured” to take Tesla Inc TSLA-Q private. Musk is essentially doubling down after suffering an initial setback last year, when the judge in San Francisco federal court ruled that his tweet was “false” and “reckless.” As a result, the jury will need to determine only if the statements impacted Tesla’s share prices, if Musk acted knowingly, and the amount of any damages. “Everything is lined up for a plaintiffs’ win here,” said Minor Myers, who teaches corporate law at the University of Connecticut. Judge Edward Chen’s ruling in May means that shareholders are “starting with runners on base,” he said. An attorney for Musk, as well as Tesla and several directors who are also defendants, declined to comment. They have denied that Musk’s statements violated the law. They will argue at trial that the stock price rose because Musk rev...

CEO Elon Musk attends the opening ceremony for Tesla's China-made Model Y program, in Shanghai, China, on Jan. 7, 2020. Aly Song/Reuters While still grappling with the fallout from a company he did take private, beleaguered billionaire Elon Musk is now facing a trial over a company he didn’t. Long before Musk purchased Twitter for $44-billion in October, he had set his sights on Tesla TSLA-Q, the electric automaker where he continues to serve as CEO and from which he derives most of his wealth and fame. Musk claimed in an August 7, 2018 tweet that he had lined up the financing to pay for a $72-billion buyout of Tesla, which he then amplified with a follow-up statement that made a deal seem imminent. But the buyout never materialized and now Musk will have to explain his actions under oath in a federal court in San Francisco. The trial, which begins on Tuesday with jury selection, was triggered by a class-action lawsuit on behalf of investors who owned Tesla stock for a 10-day per...

Elon Musk took the witness stand Friday to defend a 2018 tweet claiming he had lined up the financing to take Tesla private in a deal that never came close to happening. The tweet resulted in a $40-million settlement with securities regulators. It also led to a class-action lawsuit alleging he misled investors, pulling him into court for about a half hour Friday to deliver sworn testimony in front of a nine-person jury and a full room of media and other spectators. The trial was then adjourned for the weekend and Musk was told to return Monday to answer more questions. In his initial appearance on the stand, Musk defended his prolific tweeting as “the most democratic way” to distribute information even while acknowledging constraints of Twitter’s 280-character limit can make it difficult to make everything as clear as possible. “I think you can absolutely be truthful [on Twitter],” Musk asserted on the stand. “But can you be comprehensive? Of course not,” Musk’s latest headache stems...

Elon Musk speaks during a news conference at SpaceX's Starbase facility, near Boca Chica Village, Texas, on Feb. 10, 2022. JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images Tesla Inc TSLA-Q Chief Executive Elon Musk testified on Tuesday that he expected strong financial support when he tweeted that he would take the electric car maker private in 2018, but admitted he lacked specific commitments from potential backers. Musk ended three days on the stand defending against claims that he defrauded investors by tweeting on Aug. 7, 2018, that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private. The trial in San Francisco federal court is testing whether the world’s second-richest person can be held liable for his sometimes impulsive use of Twitter. Musk told a jury that he could have drawn upon several sources of financing to take Tesla private, from existing shareholders like Oracle Corp co-founder Larry Ellison to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund or his own fortune. “Funding was absolutely not an issue,” ...