Elon Musk watches as President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Nov. 19, 2025.
Brendan Smialowski AFP | Getty Images
Since acquiring Twitter for about $44 billion in late 2022, Elon Musk has changed the company’s name to X, integrated the social media platform with artificial intelligence startup xAI, and then merged that company with defense contractor SpaceX.
Musk’s next big step may be to take SpaceX public, perhaps in a record IPO. But before that, he needs to look back on his past.
Musk is scheduled to appear in federal court in San Francisco on Wednesday to defend himself against allegations that he committed civil securities fraud ahead of the Twitter acquisition.
Twitter investors filed a class action lawsuit against Musk in October 2022, and after months of tension and back-and-forth, Musk ultimately agreed to buy the social network for $54.20 per share, the price Musk had originally promised in April of that year.
Investors claimed that Mr. Musk, now the world’s richest man, plotted to lower Twitter’s stock price to pressure the company’s board to sell to him at a lower price. Musk’s lawyers maintain that he never intended to harm Twitter or other investors.
If Musk loses in court, he could be forced to pay former Twitter investors to cover their reported losses, which could affect the outcome of future related lawsuits.
Separately, the SEC accused Musk of violating financial regulations by failing to disclose active shares in Twitter as he prepared to acquire the company within legally required deadlines. The offer for Twitter comes more than a week after Musk revealed he owns 9.1% of the company.
After the bid, Musk used his widely followed account on Twitter as well as a press conference to complain about bots, spam and fake accounts on the social network. He also said the deal would be put on hold until the board met requests for more comprehensive internal data than he had previously requested.
Twitter shares fell as it appeared that Musk might back out of the deal. Investors in the class action claim they sold the shares prematurely for less than the $54.20 acquisition price because they thought the deal would fall through.
In a separate lawsuit, Twitter sued Musk in Delaware Court of Chancery, demanding that Musk complete the deal at the price he originally offered. Musk settled a Delaware lawsuit, bought Twitter, and combined X, xAI and SpaceX, which also owns Starlink, into a company now valued at $1.25 trillion by private investors.
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