Musk testifies tweet that led to $44 billion lawsuit “may not have been my wisest”

Elon Musk has acknowledged that the tweet at the center of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit over his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter “may not have been my wisest” as the world’s richest man defends himself from allegations of market manipulation in court.

He told a San Francisco jury on Wednesday that his post was not intended to manipulate Twitter’s stock price in the midst of the takeover battle.

A group of Twitter investors has alleged they lost money after Musk threatened to walk away from the deal to gain leverage during takeover talks, despite being aware he would be legally forced to complete the $44 billion buyout.

After signing a binding agreement to buy the company in April 2022 and waiving his rights to conduct due diligence, Musk soon started raising concerns about the number of bots on the platform.

On May 13 he tweeted the deal was “temporarily ...