Elon Musk suffers a rare defeat in a San Francisco court ruling that he misled investors during the Twitter acquisition.

According to ME News, on March 21 (UTC+8), a jury in the U.S. Federal Court in San Francisco delivered its verdict on March 20 in a class-action lawsuit related to Elon Musk's 2022 acquisition of Twitter (now renamed X). The jury found Musk liable for intentionally suppressing Twitter's stock price and misleading investors during the acquisition process, but dismissed charges of orchestrating investor fraud. The case, which began on March 2, revolved around two tweets and podcast comments Musk posted in May 2022. One tweet claimed the acquisition was "temporarily suspended" due to an investigation of fake accounts, leading some shareholders to sell their shares at a low price. After nearly four days of deliberation, the nine-person jury ruled that the tweets were misleading, but the podcast comments were not at fault. The verdict indicates that affected shareholders could receive $3-8 per share per day in damages. The plaintiffs' lawyers stated that Musk may have to pay approximately $2.5 billion, with specific details to be determined in the coming weeks. This is a rare defeat for Musk, and his legal team has indicated they will appeal. It is reported that Musk announced his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in April 2022, later terminated the agreement, and finally completed the transaction at the original price in October. (Source: ME)