And to the surprise of no one, the famously colorful billionaire did so in the most personally combative terms.
“I think you are a bad human being," Musk told
“I have great respect for the court,” Musk later added, “but not for you, sir.’’
The long-running shareholder lawsuit asserts that Musk, who was SolarCity’s largest stakeholder and its chairman, and other
In the
As an example of what he characterized as Musk’s imperious management style, Baron mentioned that the CEO once declared himself “Technoking of Tesla’’ and gave his chief financial officer the title “master of coin’’ — a reference to HBO’s “Game of Thrones” — in a filing with the
The hostility between the billionaire CEO and the plaintiffs’ lawyer dates to at least 2019 and a deposition in which Musk insulted Baron and questioned his professionalism. On Monday, Baron played clips from that deposition to try to portray Musk’s stance toward what he might regard as criticism.
Pushing back, Musk insisted Monday that “I don’t want to be the boss of anything.”
“I prefer to spend my time on design and engineering,’’ he said.
Musk, who is well-known for rejecting skepticism of himself or his company, insisted that he welcomes criticism:
“If I’m mistaken,” he said on the witness stand, “I view critical feedback as a gift.’’
Musk said his off-beat titles and other quips simply reflect his sense of humor.
“I think I’m funny,’’ he offered.
What’s more, he said, the resulting media attention often plays to Tesla’s benefit.
“If we’re entertaining, people will write stories about us,” and the company can save on advertising.”
Regarding Tesla’s all-stock acquisition of SolarCity, Musk asserted that he had nothing to gain financially from it because he owned shares of both companies.
Musk also argued that SolarCity’s failure to meet aggressive sales forecasts and its loss of market share were only temporary setbacks. He said they reflected his decision to divert
The effort to salvage
Musk’s defense noted that SolarCity had been in Tesla’s plans as early as his 2006 master plan for the electric carmaker. In saying so, he asserted that the joining of the companies 10 years later wasn’t an emergency bailout as the plaintiffs have alleged.
But Baron pointed out that the 2006 document mentioned only a potential marketing arrangement, not a full-fledged merger or acquisition, between
Seven shareholder lawsuits, consolidated into one, alleged that
“It basically was putting good money after bad,” Ives said. “For all the successes and all of the unimaginable heights Musk has achieved, this is one of the lowlights.”
Even if the trial ends with Musk having to pay personally for the whole SolarCity deal,
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Krisher contributed from
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