Tesla trial: Here are some stand-out quotes from Tesla CEO Elon Musk's testimony

Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk testified in court over a tweet he wrote in 2018 that cost Tesla investors millions of dollars. On Friday, the new Twitter owner took to stand after some of the Tesla shareholders sued the company to recoup losses they suffered due to the 2018 claims made by Musk. According to NBC News, the shareholders are suing Musk over claims that he had “secured” money to take the company private at $420 per share. On Friday, Musk put forward his case at a San Francisco federal courtroom and said, “Just be I tweet something doesn’t mean people believe it". 

According to NBC, the Tesla CEO told an attorney representing the electronic automotive company that his 2018 tweets were truthful and were limited by the social media platform’s character count.  In the Friday trial, the San Francisco court asked the jury to determine whether Musk “knowingly misled” his investors by overestimating the Tesla stock prices on Twitter. In his testimony, the Tesla CEO made it clear, that he didn’t believe his tweets had any market significance. Here’s a look at some of Musk's  stand-out quotes from his Friday testimony. 

A look at some of the key quotes from Elon Musk’s testimony

1. Musk on British caver Vernon Unsworth - The Tesla CEO made it clear that he is not a fan of the renowned caver. When the topic of Unsworth was mentioned, the Tesla CEO quipped, “He wasn’t a diver”. In 2019, the 64-year-old British caver sued Musk after he called him a “pedo guy” on Twitter. When Musk went on trial in 2019, he apologised for his tweet, however, the animosity between the two still prevails. 

2. Musk on Ron Baron’s warning - Musk also talked about the time when he was warned by billionaire investor Ron Baron who urged him to not use Twitter in 2018 when the feud between Musk and the caver actually started. When he was asked about Baron's warning, Musk asserted, “He doesn’t say don’t use Twitter. He says I shouldn’t respond to criticism in the news on Twitter”. Baron is one of the investors of Tesla, according to the Baron Funds, the American investor had 39% of assets in Tesla at the end of 2020. 

3. Tesla's journey from 2017-2019 - Musk also talked about his journey with the electric vehicle company from 2017 to 2019. He talked about the time when he used to sleep in the factory. “The sheer pain it took to make Tesla successful in 2017-2019 was unbearable for me and many others. I didn’t sleep in the factory because I wanted to, I slept because I had to,” he said. 

4. Musk on Twitter character count - The billionaire talked about how the social networking site limits the character limit to mere 240 characters. He made it clear how one can be more detailed in a legal motion. “Obviously there’s a limit when you have 240 characters to what you can say. You can, of course, be far more detailed in a legal motion, and everyone on Twitter understands that.” 

5. Draws a line between short sellers and short traders - The Tesla CEO drew a clear line between short sellers and short traders in the testimony. “Yeah, I guess most people don’t know what short seller means. It’s kind of – is it kind of a small stature salesman? Is it like medium and large sellers? I think maybe it’s important to … I’ll just explain”, he said. He then went on to express his dismay for short sellers. He told the San Francisco federal court, “I believe short selling should be made illegal. In my opinion, it’s a vehicle for bad guys on Wall Street to steal money from small investors. Not good.”

The Friday testimony in the federal court was a half-hour testimony. The Tesla trials will now continue on Monday. In the Monday trials, the Tesla CEO will continue with his testimony and the jury will determine whether Musk misled his investors or not.