The jury found that two tweets posted by Musk in May 2022 contained false statements that were responsible for the decline in Twitter’s share price.
Published on 21 March 2026
A federal jury in California has found that tech tycoon Elon Musk misled Twitter shareholders, driving down the company’s stock price as he prepared to buy it in a $44 billion deal.
The verdict handed down Friday in a class action securities lawsuit means the world’s richest man could be ordered to pay billions of dollars in damages calculated by jurors.
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After a three-week trial in San Francisco federal court – which also included personal testimony from Musk – the jury found that two tweets posted by the Tesla and SpaceX CEOs in May 2022 contained false statements responsible for the decline in Twitter’s share price.
Investor Giuseppe Pumpena filed the lawsuit on behalf of people who sold Twitter shares between mid-May and early October 2022.
Jurors agreed that Musk violated a securities rule that prohibits making false and misleading statements that drive down a stock’s price, Twitter’s verdict in the case showed. An attorney for the plaintiffs estimated the damages at approximately $2.6 billion.
But a nine-member jury acquitted Musk of some fraud charges and found he had not “planned” to mislead investors.
Minutes after the decision was announced, a lawyer for Musk, who acquired the social media platform in late October 2022 and later changed its name to X, said his client would appeal the decision, calling it a “blow.”
Musk, who has a near-constant presence at
In 2023, a jury in the same San Francisco federal court acquitted him within hours of similar charges brought by Tesla shareholders, following his 2018 tweet claiming he had funding to take the automaker private.
Musk dropped his attempt to exit buying Twitter in late 2022 after the company took him to court to maintain the contract. He has since merged the social media platform with his artificial intelligence startup xAI and his private space exploration firm SpaceX.
Forbes magazine earlier this month estimated Elon Musk’s net worth at $839 billion, a figure based primarily on his stake in his portfolio of companies including Tesla and SpaceX.
