Bloomberg claimed that PIF was in talks to privatize Tesla. Musk replied to the Saudi leader. Following his August 2018 tweet claiming that Tesla Inc. was “funding assured”, Elon Musk made a brief attempt to privatize the company. This incident hung over Musk’s reputation as well as his desire to buy Twitter Inc. As part of larger litigation involving shareholders a series of text messages Musk exchanged with friends and investors as well as the director of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, along with Silicon Valley acquaintances, have surfaced.
The lyrics, reportedly, give a glimpse into Musk’s thoughts while he attempts to sell a publicly-traded company for the second and final time in nearly four years. In a text conversation with Yasir al-Rumayyan (the fund’s chief), Musk rages at a Bloomberg News article claiming that the Saudi PIF was “in discussions” to take Tesla private.
“This is a weak statement and does not reflect the discussions at Tesla. Musk sent a text message stating that he had received a 300-page document late Friday in connection with the lawsuit.
“I’m sorry but we won’t be able to collaborate.” After talks with the Saudi PIF failed, Musk decided to proceed with the deal with Silver Lake and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Musk stopped the effort after it became clear that not all significant investors wanted to participate. He shocked the finance industry with a Friday night blog post entitled “Forever”
Since then, Tesla has been successful and there have been factories built in Shanghai, Berlin, and Austin, Texas. It has undoubtedly ushered in the electric vehicle revolution. Musk is now the richest man in the world thanks to its $1 trillion valuation.
Musk is being sued by shareholders in federal court. They claim Musk’s “undeniably fraudulent” tweets and follow-up comments on Twitter, which were posted in August 2018, cost them billions of Dollars during Tesla’s stock price fluctuations. Musk and his lawyers insist that Musk’s tweet to his millions was “absolute truth.”
Musk’s lawyers argued that the Saudi sovereign wealth funds had approved Musk’s plan to take Tesla private. The text exchanges were part of a motion field that Musk’s lawyer outside, Alex Spiro, created. The document also includes Musk’s declaration to US Securities and Exchange Commission. This commission convicted Musk of fraud. Musk and Tesla reached a $20 million agreement with the government. Musk will be removed from his position as chairman of Tesla’s board of directors for three years.
