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A fighter Elon Musk advocated the acquisition of SolarCity by Tesla and became an advocate for shareholders who are asking by agreement, the first day of a trial he could lose a huge indemnity bill if he loses.
A group of Tesla shareholders, including some pension funds, alleged that Musk designed the system Acquisition of $ 2.6 billion in 2016 to rescue another of its grand companies that had run out of funding options.
SolarCity, which installs solar panels on the roof, was founded in 2006 by Musk and two of his cousins. Although Musk’s voting interest in Tesla was 22%, the plaintiff shareholders allege that the strength of his person allowed him to dominate his board and push executives to making the deal.
Taking the position in a dark suit with a white shirt and a solid tie, Musk said SolarCity and Tesla they were a natural combination he had imagined for years, to achieve what he called a “sustainable energy economy.”
Since the deal was a stock merger and owned similar amounts of both companies, Musk said it “had no financial benefit in one way or another.”
Musk also insisted that he had no role in negotiating the terms of the deal and that he did not believe it was possible for him to control Tesla, given the power of the big institutional shareholders. “Fidelity, T Rowe [Price] and the Capital Group would not care less what I say, ”he said.
A significant majority of Tesla shareholders approved the acquisition of SolarCity, and Musk has made few secrets contempt by the demand of dissident investors. Other directors settled the case for $ 60 million, but chose to fight. The trial was originally scheduled to begin in March last year, but was delayed by the pandemic.
On Monday, in the grandstand of the Delaware court, Musk personally attacked the lawyer by questioning him, the prominent plaintiff plaintiff Randall Baron of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, saying, “I think you’re a bad human being.”
Musk added that he had “great respect for the court, but not for you.”
When asked, Musk said his contempt for Baron stemmed from legal issues that consumed the lawyer’s former firm, Milberg Weiss, where several former partners pleaded guilty to paying setbacks getting shareholders to join class action lawsuits against companies. Musk said Baron had been “mentored by criminals.”
If the court decides that Musk controlled Tesla and the SolarCity deal was not in the interests of shareholders, he could pay compensation for the amount Tesla has overpaid.
Baron had tried in his interrogation to force Musk to admit that he was the singular strength of the company, with little or no supervision from the council. Baron showed clips of several interviews Musk had given him, including on the television news program 60 minutes and in news articles, and noted that Tesla board members were often also connected to SolarCity or SpaceX, another Musk start-up.
Musk rarely gave brief answers, seemingly irritating to the Baron, but offered insights into how Tesla would work. Musk said that from 2017 to 2019, when Tesla struggled to launch its Model 3 electric car, “it was the hardest three years of my life.”
He also said he preferred to be an engineer to a manager. “To be totally frank, I don’t want to be the boss of anything,” Musk said, but he had to be Tesla’s CEO “or the company would die.”
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