Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington. ©Susan Walsh/Copyright 2020 AP. All rights reserved.A nine-person jury was selected on Tuesday to hear a trial that will determine whether Tesla CEO Elon Musk misled investors with tweets in 2018 that he planned to take the electric carmaker private.
The five-hour trial set the stage for opening statements starting Wednesday in the case, which are expected to include testimony from Musk explaining his thinking as he tweeted about the Twitter service he now owns.
The challenge of finding jurors without strong feelings for Musk became apparent during Tuesday’s meticulous selection process.
Seven jurors were questioned individually, away from the rest of the jury, to reduce the chances of influencing the opinions of others in the courtroom.
They described Musk as “arrogant”, “narcissistic”, “unpredictable”, “a bit of a nut”, “a mercenary”, “intelligent”, “successful” and “a genius”.
In the Tesla case, Musk’s tweets fueled a rally in the company’s stock price that ended abruptly a week later after it became apparent he didn’t have the funds for a buyout after all. Investors then sued him, saying Tesla stock wouldn’t have fluctuated so much in value if he hadn’t dangled the prospect of buying the company for $420 a share.
To find out more, watch the RockedBuzz via Euronews report in the video above.
