Elon Musk Criticises Twitter Verdict, Calls $4.20 Jury Figure a ‘Mocking Joke’

Elon Musk has sharply criticised a US jury verdict finding him liable for misleading investors in 2022 over his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, now known as X, saying the trial was undermined by a “bizarre and highly questionable” jury decision.

The eight-member San Francisco jury concluded on Friday that Musk misled investors with two tweets in May 2022, in which he expressed concerns about the prevalence of fake accounts on the platform, before attempting to withdraw from the deal. The jury rejected a claim that a third Musk statement violated federal securities law, and dismissed allegations of a broader scheme to defraud shareholders.

In a letter to US District Judge Charles Breyer, Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, highlighted a figure written in blue ink on the jury’s verdict form — $4.20 — which he said was unrelated to the calculation of damages. The number 420 is widely associated with marijuana culture. Spiro called the jury’s inclusion of the figure “a mocking reference to a number previously associated with Mr. Musk,” and said it demonstrated that jurors were commenting on Musk personally rather than on the legal questions at hand.

“The jury used its verdict to mock Mr. Musk and the process,” Spiro wrote. “This ‘numerical joke’ was just the final example in a parade of issues and events that illustrate Mr. Musk was deprived of his right to a fair trial adjudicated by an impartial jury dedicated to finding the truth.”

Lawyers representing the investors urged Judge Breyer to strike Spiro’s letter from the record, calling it “unsolicited” and saying it misrepresented the record without seeking any form of relief. “The letter is egregiously unfaithful to the record in this case,” they wrote in their response.

The lawsuit stemmed from Musk’s public statements in 2022, which investors said were intended to reduce Twitter’s stock price so that he could renegotiate the purchase price, initially set at $54.20 per share. Twitter’s market value declined sharply that summer as Musk waffled on whether to complete the acquisition, which he ultimately did at the agreed price.

The jury’s verdict included a calculation of the “amount of artificial deflation per share” for Twitter stock over roughly five months in 2022. Handwritten figures on the verdict sheet ranged from less than $3 to more than $8 per trading day, with the $4.20 entry standing out as the only figure in blue ink.

The amount Musk may be required to pay individual investors will be determined later, when shareholders submit claims. Attorneys representing the plaintiffs estimated the potential total could reach $2.6 billion.

The case echoes earlier scrutiny of Musk’s social media activity. On August 7, 2018, Musk tweeted that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla Inc. private at $420 per share. Tesla stock surged and then fell after he abandoned the plan, prompting investor lawsuits. Musk was cleared of wrongdoing by a San Francisco jury in 2023. Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Musk had chosen the $420 figure partly as a marijuana-related reference. That case was settled, with Musk and Tesla paying a combined $40 million without admitting or denying liability.

In his letter regarding the Twitter verdict, Spiro did not reference the Tesla tweet directly, but said the jury’s use of $4.20 “appears to be a mocking reference to a number previously associated with Mr. Musk.” He added that the figure “had no significance” to the determination of damages and reflected jurors’ personal opinions rather than a factual finding of securities fraud.

Investors had argued that Musk’s tweets artificially depressed Twitter’s stock value, leading to shareholder losses. The jury found liability on the two May 2022 tweets, but the exact damages are yet to be calculated.

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