Tesla CEO and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is defending Tesla’s SolarCity acquisition in court this week, as the defendant in a lawsuit brought forth by Tesla shareholders hoping to regain the $2.6 billion USD spent on the company, while plaintiffs claim that the move was a bailout.
In court on Monday, Musk denied allegations that the 2016 purchase of SolarCity was a bailout, as reported by Reuters.
The company was originally founded by Musk’s cousins, Lyndon Rive and Peter Rive, and shareholders say that the purchase only benefitted the Tesla board, Elon and his brother Kimbal, while doing so “at the expense of Tesla and its minority stockholders.”
Tesla Will Ask Pennsylvania Judge to Transfer Solar Lawsuit to California https://t.co/bOsmpI3MRR
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) June 3, 2021
Musk also owned a 22 percent stake in SolarCity at the time of purchase, and the lawsuit claims that Musk strong-armed Tesla’s board into making the purchase just before the solar company ran out of money.
During the trial, Musk also noted that he was given opportunities to work on Wall Street, but decided to focus on tech instead, according to Bloomberg.
When questioned, Musk said, “I was offered several high-paid jobs on Wall Street. I declined.”
The two-week trial takes place in Wilmington, Delaware in front of Vice-Chancellor Joseph Slights, who will make the call as to whether the purchase was fair to shareholders or not.
