Musk facing heat over tweet

TESLA chief Elon Musk’s elaboration on his plan to take the electric car maker private could get the Silicon Valley maverick into legal trouble by revealing the funding deal is far more uncertain than he initially described.

If everything falls into place, Musk ( pictured) plans to buy Tesla from any existing shareholders willing to sell using money raised through Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

Taking Tesla private could cost t anywhere from $ US25 billion to $ US50 billion.

Mr Musk identified the source for financing in a blog post published earlier this week, adding any funding agreement remains “subject to financial and other due diligence” by the Saudi wealth fund.

But when he initially dropped his bombshell in an August 7 tweet, the tech billionaire stated he had “funding secured” to buy Tesla stock at $ 420 per share — 23 per cent above its August 6 c closing price. That assurance caused Tesla’s stock to surge 11 per cent in one day, boosting the company’s market value by more than $ US6 billion to the d dismay of short sellers who had been betting Tesla’s shares would decline. Mr Musk’s tweet has opened an inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission, accordi ing to media reports. At least two lawsuits seeking to become a class action have also been filed against Tesla, alleging Mr Musk broke securities laws by making it sound like all the financing for the buyout had been lined up. “Funding secured wasn’t exactly funding secured,” Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and former SEC lawyer, said. “There are some issues here.”