The US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Elon Musk

According to documents filed in a US court on October 5, Elon Musk was just sued by the US Securities Commission (SEC) for refusing to testify about his purchase of Twitter.

The SEC's lawsuit said the agency sent papers to Musk in May asking him to testify at its San Francisco office. Musk has agreed to appear on September 15. But two days before this deadline, the billionaire gave "several false reasons to refuse" and said he would not appear.

Musk also refused the SEC's request to conduct a hearing in Texas in October or November. This agency is trying to force him to testify about the acquisition of Twitter for $ 44 billion last year.

The SEC said Musk may have violated securities laws when he bought Twitter shares in 2022. They have been investigating Musk since May 2022, when the billionaire just announced his stake in Twitter. This agency doubted that he had submitted all the appropriate documents.

Elon Musk at a technology forum in Paris (France) in June. Photo: Reuters

Musk said the SEC was trying to "harass" him and that his advisory team needed time to evaluate documents related to a biography about Musk published last month. According to the complaint, Musk gave the SEC documents related to the investigation and video hearing last July.

"The SEC has questioned Mr. Musk too many times, in an absurd investigation," said Alex Spiro - Musk's lawyer. In the statement, the SEC affirmed that it wanted to "hear Musk to obtain information that the SEC does not have, related to a completely legitimate investigation."

Musk and the SEC have been at odds since 2018, when he announced on Twitter that he had enough money to buy back and delist Tesla. Three weeks later, he abandoned this plan. After the incident, Musk had to resign as company chairman and pay a fine.

Since then, Musk has continuously criticized the SEC. The agency also opened multiple investigations into Musk over the past few years.

In addition to the SEC, Musk is also entangled in many other legal troubles. The US Department of Justice is investigating Tesla over statements related to self-driving cars. Prosecutors in New York also opened an investigation into the incentives Musk received while running the company and complaints related to the range of Tesla vehicles.

Twitter's value is only one-third of the price Musk bought it for
According to estimates by Fidelity Financial Group, Twitter is currently only worth 33% of the amount Elon Musk spent to buy this social network.

A report published on May 29 by Fidelity Financial Services Group (USA) shows that the company has adjusted the price of its shares in Twitter to 6.55 million USD. This figure is lower than 8.63 million USD at the end of November last year.

Fidelity first lowered the price of these shares in November 2022, to 44% of the purchase price. After that, they continued to adjust downwards in December and January 2023. It's unclear how Fidelity calculated Twitter's new value, or whether it received any non-public information about Twitter's situation.

Based on Fidelity's move, Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates that Twitter's value is currently only 33% of the price Elon Musk previously bought. According to Bloomberg , Elon Musk 's stake in this social network is currently worth about 8.8 billion USD. Musk spent more than $25 billion to buy 79% of Twitter shares last year.

Musk also previously admitted that he overpaid for Twitter. He bought this company last year for $44 billion, with both his own money and borrowed money. Recently, the billionaire also admitted that Twitter is currently worth less than half of this amount.

Twitter has had many financial troubles since Musk took over. The company had to shoulder $13 billion in debt from Musk's purchase. The billionaire's subsequent decisions on human resources and content moderation also caused businesses to leave the platform, leading to a 50% drop in advertising revenue, Musk said in March. by selling Twitter Blue service packages that have not yet been effective. By the end of March, less than 1% of Twitter's monthly users were subscribed to the service.

However, Musk is still the second richest person in the world, with assets of 187 billion USD. Since the beginning of the year, the billionaire has added more than 48 billion USD, mainly thanks to the skyrocketing Tesla stock price.