Tesla boss Elon Musk has prevailed in a legal dispute with
shareholders over the controversial takeover of the loss-making green
electricity company SolarCity.
Delaware judge sided with Musk in a ruling on Wednesday and
found that Tesla did not pay an excessive price for SolarCity.
The plaintiffs accused Musk of pushing through the deal to
buy the struggling solar panel manufacturer at the expense of Tesla
shareholders.
Tesla bought SolarCity for around 2.6 billion dollars in
2016.
At the time, critics accused Musk of conflicts of interest
because he was both the largest shareholder and chairman of the board at
SolarCity.
There were also suspicions of nepotism from the start since
the company was run by a cousin of Musk and Tesla co-founder JB Straubel was also
on the board of directors.
Both companies were regularly in the red at the time.
At the time of the deal, SolarCity was considered to be in
financial distress.
The judge agreed with the plaintiffs that Musk had exerted
too much influence on the takeover and, given his personal involvement, had not
taken a step back from the negotiations.
However, he concluded that this was ultimately not a
decisive factor in the transaction.
It remained to be seen, however, whether Musk would be able
to close the case.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs told U.S. media that he was
reviewing options to appeal the verdict.
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