b'the motion was granted with prejudice as to the seniorproduction issues with its Model 3 vehicle, which led vice president of investor relations, but denied as to thenumerous short-selling investors to target the company, other defendants. drawing the publicly-expressed animosity of Tesla CEO The court again rejected plaintiffs contention that anyElon Musk. In late July, 2018, Musk met with representatives of the following allegations, alone, created an inferenceof Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund (PIF)), and Teslas of scienter as to any individual defendant: magnitudeBoard of Directors subsequently held a conference call of GAAP violations, resignation of some defendants,in which Musk revealed that PIF was interested in funding the Restatements generalized statements abouta transaction for Tesla to go private. Despite expressing management, remediation measures, and internal controlsome reservations, the Board authorized Musk to contact shortcomings. It similarly held that motive allegationsinvestors to gauge their interest. of the CEOs $12.9 million in personal margin loans thatOn August 7, 2018, the Twitter handle associated were subject to repayment if the stock price declined,with Musk sent a series of tweets concerning a did not alone establish an inference of scienter. However,take-private transaction involving Tesla, including: it held that, as to the CEO, these allegations, allegationsAm considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding that he was known to obsess over every detail of Supersecured; I dont have a controlling vote now & wouldnt Micros business[,] and the Restatements admission ofexpect any shareholder to have one if we go private. an inappropriate tone at the top[,] when consideredI wont be selling in either scenario; My hope is *all* holistically, created a strong inference of scienter as to thecurrent investors remain with Tesla even if were private. CEO, which was at least as compelling as any opposingWould create special purpose fund enabling anyone to innocent inference.stay with Tesla. Already do this with Fidelitys SpaceX The court also again rejected plaintiffs attempt to pleadinvestment; Shareholders could either to sell [sic] at 420 scienter through the core operations doctrine as toor hold shares & go private; and Def no forced sales. all defendants except the former CFO. The court heldHope all shareholders remain. Will be way smoother that plaintiffs new allegations as to findings in the SECs& less disruptive as a private company. Ends negative orders detailing the former CFOs involvement in suspectpropaganda from shorts. Trading volume in Tesla stock transactions that contributed to Super Micros revenuerose to 30 million shares that day, and Tesla stock price recognition violations adequately alleged his actualrose to an intraday high of $387.46/share, approximately access to fraudulent conduct and supported a strong$45 above the prior trading days closing price. The same inference of scienter, especially when considering hisday, Musk circulated an email to Tesla employees, which position as CFO, his departure from the company, thewas made publicly available on Teslas blog, and which Restatements criticism of an inappropriate tone at theincluded statements that a final decision has not yet been top, and the fact that the GAAP violations allowed Supermade, but I think this is the best path forward. Musk Micro to meet or beat guidance and Wall Street consensusoffered shareholders the option to stay on in a private expectations when it otherwise would not have. Tesla or be bought out at $420/share(a 20% premium over the stock price following ourThe court further held that Section 20(a) control liabilityQ2 earnings call). Later that day, Musk reaffirmed that was adequately pled as to all defendants except thehe was contemplating a take-private transaction for senior vice president of investor relations, explaining$420/ share, and that Investor support is confirmed. that none of the statements attributed to him wereOnly reason why this is not certain is that its contingent analogous to signing financial statements and his titleon a shareholder vote. On August 10, Musk tweeted and responsibilities were insufficient to plead controlShort shorts coming soon to Tesla merch[andise] and person liability. on August 13, 2018, Musk posted on Teslas blog an The remaining defendants have until April 30, 2021 toUpdate on Taking Tesla Private where he confirmed he answer the complaint.was continuing to consider the take-private and providing more detail of his conversations with PIF, stating that he left a meeting with them on July 31st with no question that In re Tesla, Inc. Securities Litigation, Casea deal with the Saudi sovereign fund could be closed, and No. 18-cv-04865-EMC, 2020 WL 1873441that it was just a matter of getting the process moving.(N.D. Cal. Apr. 15, 2020) On August 15, 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter Posts Concerning Potentialthe SEC formally subpoenaed Tesla regarding Musks Go-Private Transactiontweets. In subsequent media interviews, published by the New York Times on August 17, 2018, Mr. Musk stated Tesla, Inc. is a publicly-traded company that designs,no one had reviewed his tweets before he posted them develops, manufactures, and sells high-performanceand that he had chosen the $420 share price because of electric vehicles and solar energy generation and storagebetter karma. The same day, Teslas stock price declined products. In late 2017 and early 2018, Tesla experiencedto $305.50, 9% below the previous day. On August 24, 18'