Elon Musk faces billions in damages after brutal court loss

A California jury found Friday that Elon Musk misled Twitter investors in the lead-up to his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company, potentially exposing him to billions in damages, according to multiple reports.

The verdict in the class-action case stems from claims that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO – who also served a controversial tenure as President Donald Trump’s DOGE head – made misleading statements during his 2022 effort to purchase Twitter. Musk later renamed the social media platform to X.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said total damages could reach as much as $2.6 billion, CNBC reported Friday. Musk, however, was cleared of some fraud allegations, the outlet added.

“This is a great example of what you cannot do to the average investor -- people that have 401ks, kids, pension funds, teachers, firemen, nurses,” an attorney for the Twitter investors told CNBC outside a San Francisco courthouse. “That’s what this case was all about. This was not about Musk. It was about the whole operation.”

The lawsuit was originally filed in October 2022 after Musk completed the takeover at $54.20 per share.