Skip to main content

Musk’s tweets could get him in federal trouble — again

 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent a series of bizarre tweets Friday that sent the electric carmaker’s stock tumbling and wiped billions off the company’s valuation.

Recommended Videos

But the tweets may have another effect: Drawing the attention of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, (SEC), which has filed charges against Musk in the past for his tweets.

On Friday, Musk said that the stock price of Tesla was too high, a comment that sent Tesla’s stock plummeting as much as 13%.

The comments come two years after Musk’s infamous tweets about taking Tesla private — a plan he claimed had already secured funding — sent the stock price soaring. The Tesla CEO was later sued by the SEC for “false and misleading” statements that sent investors and analysts into a frenzy.

The settlement between Musk and the SEC required him to step down as the electric carmaker’s chairman, and included a $20 million penalty for both Tesla and Musk himself. But things quickly went sour when Musk tweeted about how many Model 3s the company would make, contradicting official guidance from Tesla and apparently without prior approval.

The SEC asked Musk for proof he was having his statements screened and later filed to have him held in contempt. Musk said the tweets were not in violation of the settlement and accused the SEC of an “unconstitutional power grab” in court papers.

Tesla agreed to “put in place additional controls and procedures to oversee Musk’s communications.” The agreement, which was finally approved last year, required Musk to seek pre-approval from a securities lawyer if his tweets involve Tesla’s financial condition and other such matters.

Digital Trends reached out to Tesla to see if a lawyer had approved Musk’s latest tweets, but didn’t immediately hear back. Digital Trends also asked the SEC for comment on Musk’s tweet and will update this story when we hear back.

Friday’s bizarre tweetstorm is the latest in a wild week for Musk, who also recently tweeted his disapproval of the lockdowns in place to help curb the spread of coronavirus. He later called the shelter-in-place guidelines “fascist” during a Tesla quarterly earnings call and then returned to Twitter to rant against the measures.

It remains to be seen what sanctions, if any, Musk will receive from his tweets. The effect on Tesla, meanwhile, is already staggering, as $14 billion has been wiped off from the company’s stock market value, according to Financial Times.

Aaron Mamiit
Aaron received an NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was four years old, and he has been fascinated…
Tesla delaying the launch of its next big thing, report claims
A Tesla steering wheel.

Tesla is delaying the unveiling of its robotaxi by a couple of months, according to a Bloomberg report citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Tesla boss Elon Musk said three months ago that the robotaxi would be unveiled at a special event on August 8, but sources said the event has now been pushed to October, apparently to give engineers more time to get the prototype right.

Read more
Tesla to begin production on new, more affordable models
Tesla Model 3

With competition increasing from Chinese and other automakers, Tesla boss Elon Musk revealed on Tuesday that his company is planning to begin production of new, more affordable models in “early 2025, if not late this year.” Notably, that's earlier than the previously stated date of late 2025, though whether Musk actually succeeds in meeting the earlier production time frame is another question entirely.

The news came as Tesla released its latest quarterly figures. Revenue for the electric vehicle maker came in at $21.3 billion, down from the $23.3 billion it reported for the same three-month period a year earlier and also down from the $25.2 billion reported in the previous quarter. Profit reached $1.1 billion, marking a 55% fall compared to the same period a year ago.

Read more
Tesla reveals target date for new electric vehicle launch
Tesla logo

Tesla is targeting 2025 to launch a mass-market compact crossover, with speculation growing that it could be the automaker’s best-priced vehicle yet.

Following Wednesday's publication of a Reuters report claiming that Tesla has been informing suppliers of its plan to launch its first new vehicle since the Cybertruck last year, Tesla chief Elon Musk confirmed during a post-earnings call that the company expects to begin production of an all-new electric vehicle at its Texas facility in the second half of 2025.

Read more