Forbes reports that Musk's net worth went from $320 billion in 2021 to $138 billion in January 2023. Plummeting Tesla shares accounted for much of the drop. Video / AP
Elon Musk’s net worth has jumped yet again – by almost $US11 billion ($16.9 billion) – despite the fact he’s currently in the middle of a bitter legal battle regarding two infamous 2018 tweets.
The billionaire has been testifying in federal court this week after Tesla investors launched a classaction claiming Musk had misled them by claiming he was “considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured”.
However, while Musk had met with executives of a Saudi sovereign wealth fund regarding the funding he would need to take Tesla private, the deal never went through, with investors claiming the tweet was based on a lie that cost them billions.
Musk first testified on Friday – and according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, since then his net worth has skyrocketed to $US145.2 billion ($223.4 billion), a jump of around $US10.6 billion ($16.3 billion), representing the biggest two-day increase since November.
But it’s not all good news for the Twitter owner, who last month became the first person to ever lose $US200 billion ($307 billion) from their personal fortune.
Meanwhile, Musk has argued that his “funding secured” tweet was not a joke, and that he had at the time believed the deal with the Saudis was secure.
“My understanding was that they would proceed with the deal,” Musk said during the trial, according to CNN.
He added that the boss of the Saudi fund had “been unequivocal in his support for taking Tesla private when we met”, but in time “appeared to be back-pedalling”.
A Tesla car drives through a tunnel in the Central Station during a media preview of the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop. Photo / Getty Images
Regardless, he said that even without the Saudi fund, he had enough personal wealth to take Tesla private if needed, and also had the option of using his SpaceX shares.
Musk also claimed he decided to share the tweets as he was worried details would soon be leaked to the press, and that he had simply been attempting to beat the story to “make sure all investors would be on equal footing”.
He also insisted the specific $420 ($646) sum was not a joke, despite the number 420 being a popular code for marijuana.
Instead, he claimed it represented an approximate 20 per cent premium on the stock price.
“420 price was not a joke,” he said.
“There is some karma around 420, although I should question if that is good or bad karma at this point.”
His lawyer, Alex Spiro, also claimed that while Musk’s choice of words were poor, the tweets did not amount to fraud, and that he did not intentionally set out to mislead any investors.
Elon Musk is on trial for his 2019 tweets. Photo / Herald montage, AP, Getty Images
“In his rushed, reckless state, he tweeted the wrong word choice,” Spiro said.
“In his mind, funding wasn’t an issue, it was secured.
“But what he said in that tweet was ‘funding secured’ without elaborating what that meant to him.”
Musk’s 2018 tweets sparked scrutiny from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which eventually slapped the billionaire and Tesla with separate $US20 million ($30.7 million) penalties.
