ChainThink reports that on March 21, according to CNN, a jury in California largely sided with Twitter (now rebranded as X) shareholders on Friday, who alleged that billionaire Musk made false statements and intentionally depressed the company’s stock price prior to his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company in 2022. However, the jury did not find Musk guilty of participating in a “comprehensive conspiracy to defraud investors.”
This ruling brings a civil class-action lawsuit to a close. The lawsuit was filed in October 2022 by a group of Twitter shareholders—several weeks before Musk officially took control of the company. During weeks of trial proceedings, Musk was compelled to appear in court to defend himself. Musk initially agreed to acquire Twitter in April 2022, but spent the following months attempting to back out of the deal before ultimately completing the acquisition.
According to the plaintiffs' attorneys, the jury's awarded damages are estimated at approximately $2.5 billion, with the final amount depending on the number of individuals who ultimately opt into the class action.
According to Musk’s lawyers, Musk plans to appeal the ruling. His law firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, noted that Musk has recently succeeded in appeals in other unrelated cases in Texas and Delaware.