Tag: tesla

Elon Musk-Twitter Deal Is a ‘Breath of Hope’, Says Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called Elon Musk’s proposed takeover of Twitter a “breath of hope” as the two met in Brazil on Friday, adding he hoped the US billionaire would help end the “lies” about his widely criticised stewardship of the Amazon rainforest.

Bolsonaro and Musk, the CEO of electric carmaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, met to discuss rural Internet connectivity and monitoring of the Amazon. The meeting comes at a sensitive time for both men.

Bolsonaro faces an uphill battle to get re-elected in the October, and has become increasingly isolated on the global stage, while Musk was on Thursday accused of sexual harassment in a news report – an allegation he denies.

Bolsonaro, a far-right nationalist, has blasted major social media platforms for their efforts to combat disinformation, including taking down his baseless comments linking COVID-19 vaccines to developing AIDS. Musk, who Bolsonaro called a “legend of liberty,” has vowed to defend free speech on Twitter.

Bolsonaro has been globally condemned for advocating more mining and farming in the Amazon and for Brazil’s environmental backsliding. Recent satellite data show deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has surged to a 15-year high under Bolsonaro.

Speaking alongside Musk at an upscale hotel in the countryside near Sao Paulo, Bolsonaro hailed the billionaire’s bid for Twitter, saying “it was like a breath of hope.”

“We need, and are counting on Elon Musk for the Amazon to be known by all in Brazil and the world, to show … how we have protected it, and how much harm is caused by those who spread lies about that region,” he told a news conference.

Later, in a press conference without Musk, Bolsonaro gushed about meeting the US billionaire. “It’s the start of a relationship which I’m sure will soon end in marriage,” he said.

Bolsonaro added that Musk’s Twitter purchase would represent “the freedom of press that we always want and desire, total freedom, without limit,” he said.

Bolsonaro also said that he was making Brazil’s Alcântara space base near the equator available to Musk’s rockets.

Musk tweeted on Friday afternoon that he aimed to discuss further monitoring of the rainforest and an effort to bring broadband internet to rural areas – a scheme that he had previously discussed with members of Bolsonaro’s government.

Musk was not asked about harassment allegations when he took questions after arriving in Sao Paulo, where he was also greeted by business leaders such as Telecom Italia Chief Executive Pietro Labriola and Banco BTG Pactual Chairman Andre Esteves.

Musk’s meeting with Bolsonaro, a longtime conservative firebrand who defends Brazil’s 1964-1985 military dictatorship, is indicative of the right-ward drift of his personal politics. On Wednesday, he said he previously voted for Democrats, but will now vote for Republicans.

For Bolsonaro, who has worried international observers as many fear that he may refuse to hand over power if he loses the October election, Musk’s visit was a public relations coup.

Bolsonaro lost an ally when former US President Donald Trump lost his 2020 re-election bid, and has not spoken with US President Joe Biden since the Democrat took office.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Elon Musk Denies Allegations That Claimed He Sexually Harassing Flight Attendant on Private Jet in 2016

Billionaire Elon Musk took to Twitter late on Thursday to denounce as “utterly untrue” claims in a news report that he had sexually harassed a flight attendant on a private jet in 2016.

Business Insider reported earlier on Thursday that Musk’s SpaceX paid $250,000 (roughly Rs. 2 crore) in 2018 to settle a sexual harassment claim from an unnamed private jet flight attendant who accused Musk of exposing himself to her.

The article quoted an anonymous person who said she was a friend of the flight attendant. The friend had provided a statement as part of the private settlement process, according to the article.

“I have a challenge to this liar who claims their friend saw me ‘exposed’ – describe just one thing, anything at all (scars, tattoos, …) that isn’t known by the public. She won’t be able to do so, because it never happened,” Musk tweeted.

Reuters was not able to verify the Business Insider account. Musk and SpaceX did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the Business Insider story or on Musk’s tweets.

In addition to allegedly exposing himself, Musk rubbed the flight attendant’s thigh and offered to buy her a horse if she would “do more” during an in-flight massage, Business Insider quoted the friend of the flight attendant as saying.

The flight attendant came to believe that her refusal to accept Musk’s proposal had hurt her opportunities to work at SpaceX and prompted her to hire a lawyer in 2018, according to Business Insider.

The rocket company made the settlement out of court and included a nondisclosure agreement which prevented the flight attendant from speaking about it, Business Insider said. The news site did not name the friend or the flight attendant.

Musk, who is also chief executive of Tesla and is in the midst of a contentious effort to buy Twitter, said on Wednesday that he would vote Republican instead of Democrat, predicting a “dirty tricks campaign against me” would follow.

In the Business Insider article, Musk was quoted as saying the flight attendant’s story was a “politically motivated hit piece” and that there was “a lot more to this story.”

On Thursday evening, Musk first tweeted: “The attacks against me should be viewed through a political lens – this is their standard (despicable) playbook – but nothing will deter me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech.” In the initial tweet, he did not specifically mention the allegations in the Business Insider article.

“And, for the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue,” Musk added in another tweet.

He also tweeted that the article was meant to interfere with the Twitter acquisition.

Reuters could not immediately reach Business Insider for comment.



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Elon Musk’s SpaceX Said to Become Most Valuable US Startup, Valuation Rises to $125 Billion

Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX is poised to become the most valuable US startup as its valuation rose to over $125 billion (roughly Rs. 9,68,906 crore) in an ongoing share sale in the secondary market, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The shares, which are marketed at about $72 (roughly Rs. 5,580 crore), jumped in valuation from last October, when SpaceX’s shares were sold at $56 (roughly Rs. 4,340) apiece after a 10-1 split and valued the rocket company at $100 billion (roughly Rs. 7,75,125 crore).

No new shares have been issued in the secondary offering, but the company indicated to investors that they may do so later this year, said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified.

The share sale could value SpaceX at over $125 billion (roughly Rs. 9,68,906 crore), surpassing fintech giant Stripe, which was valued at $115 billion (roughly Rs. 8,91,439 crore) in a secondary sale. It could not be learned how many shares have been made available for sale by the company.

It is common for highly valued private companies to offer shares in the secondary market to introduce liquidity for early investors and employees.

Reuters could not determine if Chief Executive Elon Musk, who owns 44 percent of the SpaceX and signed a $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,40,923 crore) deal to acquire Twitter, are among the sellers. Musk is also the chief executive of Tesla. SpaceX did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. The New York Post first reported on the private placement on Monday.

In the capital-intensive business, SpaceX has raised $337.4 million (roughly Rs. 2,615 crore) in December and $1.16 billion (roughly Rs. 8,990 crore) in equity financing last April, according to regulatory filings.

The company competes with former Amazon.com Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’s space venture Blue Origin and billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic in the burgeoning constellation of commercial rocket ventures. SpaceX has already launched numerous cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), including 19 rocket launches this year alone.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Elon Musk’s ‘Tesla Funding Secured’ Tweet Inaccurate and Reckless, Says Court

A court said that Elon Musk’s 2018 tweets that funding was secured to take Tesla private was inaccurate and reckless, saying “there was nothing concrete” about financing from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund at that time.

The decision by US District Judge Edward Chen of San Francisco is a major victory for investors alleging that Musk inflated stock prices by making false and misleading statements, causing billions of damages.

In 2018, Musk met with representatives of the Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and had a discussion about taking Tesla private, but evidence shows that “there was nothing concrete about funding coming from the PIF,” the judge wrote.

“Rather, discussions between Tesla and the PIF were clearly at the preliminary stage. “No reasonable jury could find that Mr. Musk did not act recklessly given his clear knowledge of the discussions,” he said.

He said details such as the total amount of funding needed to take Tesla private or the price to be paid for Tesla stock were not discussed.

The summary judgment, made on April 1, was sealed for more than a month before it was publicly available on Tuesday. “It is hugely significant,” shareholder attorney Nicholas Porritt, a partner at Levi & Korsinsky LLP told Reuters.

He said that class action plaintiffs get summary judgment on falsity and scienter before going to a jury trial, scheduled in January.

The remaining issue is what damages the intentionally false statement has caused to shareholders, he said.

The judge refused to grant shareholders summary judgment on the question of whether or not the allegedly false statements actually impacted Tesla’s share prices.

Musk’s lawyer, who has filed motions to undo the court decision, was not immediately available for comments. Musk said recently that funding was actually secured to take Tesla private in 2018.

The latest ruling was in line with a complaint from the US security regulator which sued Musk for fraud charges for the tweets in 2018. He settled with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, stepping down as Tesla chairman, paying fines and agreeing to have a lawyer approve some of his tweets before posting them.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Elon Musk’s Latest $7 Billion Twitter Funding Could Face US Regulator Scrutiny: Experts

Elon Musk’s decision to accept some foreign investors as part of his $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,37,000 crore) buyout of Twitter runs the risk of inviting the kind of regulatory scrutiny over US national security that social media peer TikTok faced, legal experts say.

Musk disclosed on Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange founded by Chinese native Changpeng Zhao, were part of a group of investors that will help him fund the acquisition of Twitter.

This could give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) an opening to scrutinize the deal for potential national security risks, six regulatory lawyers not involved in the transaction and interviewed by Reuters said. CFIUS is a panel of government agencies and departments that reviews mergers and acquisitions for potential threats to US security.

“To the extent that Musk’s proposed acquisition of Twitter includes foreign investment, it very well could fall under CFIUS jurisdiction,” said Chris Griner, chair of law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP’s national security practice.

A spokesperson for the US Treasury Department, which chairs CFIUS, declined to comment on whether the national security panel planned to scrutinize Musk’s Twitter deal.

Spokespeople for Musk, bin Talal, Qatar and Binance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Former President Donald Trump’s administration turned to CFIUS in 2020 in a bid to force TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to divest the short video app. His successor Joe Biden abandoned that effort after ByteDance agreed to changes on how the data of US users are stored and protected.

The regulatory lawyers interviewed by Reuters said the risk of CFIUS blocking Musk’s deal is small because he will control Twitter under the proposed takeover and the foreign investors are acquiring relatively small stakes.

They added that their assessment would change were Musk to give the foreign investors influence over the company, through a seat on its board or other means.

The risk is not negligible, however, given that the business of handling personal data by social media companies such as Twitter is typically viewed as critical infrastructure by CFIUS, the lawyers said.

“One of the items that’s considered sensitive personal data, is non-public electronic communications. So that would be email, messaging or chat communications between users. Twitter allows you to do that,” law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP partner Richard Sofield said.

One area of potential scrutiny for CFIUS, the lawyers said, could be Musk’s business dealings with foreign governments hostile to free speech or keen to overtake the United States technologically. Tesla, the electric car maker he leads, relies heavily on China, for example, to manufacture and sell its vehicles.

China blocked Twitter in 2009 but many Chinese officials have been active on the social media platform. Some of them have complained that the company’s efforts to restrict misinformation have targeted them unfairly.

“One of the considerations would be whether or not there will be an opportunity for China to leverage its business activity in order to achieve a desired outcome,” Sofield added.

BROADCOM PRECEDENT

There is precedent for CFIUS shooting down a deal based on the risk that an acquirer’s business ties could compromise them, the lawyers said. Trump blocked chip maker Broadcom $117 billion (roughly Rs. 8,99,595 crore) acquisition of US peer Qualcomm 2018 after CFIUS raised concerns about the deal.

Broadcom was a publicly listed company with US shareholders that was headquartered in Singapore, but the White House fretted that Broadcom’s relationship with “third-party foreign entities” would set the US back in its technology race with China.

Nevena Simidjiyska, a regulatory lawyer at law firm Fox Rothschild LLP, said it was possible CFIUS would look into whether Musk or other US investors in the Twitter deal can be influenced by foreign entities in a similar way.

“CFIUS may determine that even US investors in Twitter fall under CFIUS review if they are controlled by foreign parties,” Simidjiyska said.

Musk’s Twitter deal does not face the most common type of regulatory risk seen in mergers and acquisitions — pushback from antitrust regulators. The world’s richest man has no media holdings, and regulatory experts have said they do not expect the deal to face significant antitrust scrutiny.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Elon Musk Sells Tesla Shares Worth $8.5 Billion Ahead of Twitter Takeover

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk sold $8.5 billion (roughly Rs. 65,044 crore) worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker, US securities filings showed, in sales likely aimed at helping finance his planned purchase of Twitter.

Musk said in a tweet on Thursday that there are “no further TSLA sales planned after today”. He sold about 9.6 million shares this week, according to the filings on Thursday and Friday, equating to 5.6 percent of his stake in the company.

It was not clear whether all of Musk’s recent Tesla share sales were reported. Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The sale came after Musk on Monday clinched a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,36,690 crore) in cash in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world’s richest person. Musk’s net worth is $268 billion (roughly Rs. 20,50,725 crore), according to Forbes.

As part of the deal, Musk said he would provide a $21 billion (roughly Rs. 1,60,690 crore) equity commitment.

It was not immediately clear how the billionaire would raise the remaining $12.5 billion (roughly Rs. 95,600 crore) of equity financing. Musk holds a 43.61 percent stake in unlisted rocket company SpaceX, which is reportedly valued at $100 billion (roughly Rs. 7,65,230 crore).

Tesla shares rose about 5 percent in morning trading on Friday. They have tumbled about 20 percent since Musk’s disclosure of a more than 9 percent stake in Twitter on April 4.

Musk has been looking for partners to reduce his equity contribution to the deal, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that it is far from certain such a partner will emerge.

This is his first Tesla stock sale since he offloaded $16.4 billion (roughly Rs. 1,25,500 crore) worth of shares in November and December after polling Twitter users about selling 10 percent of his stake in the electric car maker.

Musk said on Twitter that he would pay more than $11 billion (roughly Rs. 84,140 crore) in taxes in 2021 due to his exercise of stock options set to expire this year.

Some traders have fretted this week that Musk may not have enough money sitting around to fund his $21 billion (roughly Rs. 1,60,690 crore) cash contribution and could walk away from the deal, weighing on Twitter shares.

As part of the Twitter financing deal, Musk secured commitments for $13 billion (roughly Rs. 99,480 crore) in loans secured against Twitter and a $12.5 billion margin loan tied to his Tesla stock.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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