Elon Musk Found Liable: Two Tweets Cost Him $2.5 Billion — The Twitter Deal That Shocked Wall Street

Two tweets. That's all it took.

A jury has found Elon Musk liable for misleading investors by deliberately driving down Twitter's stock price in the tumultuous months leading up to his 2022 acquisition of the social media company for $44 billion.  (Daily Mail)

The verdict is in — and it's one of the biggest financial stories of 2026.

📱 The Two Tweets That Started Everything

In 2022, Elon Musk made an unsolicited offer to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share, which valued the company at approximately $44 billion. In the weeks and months that followed, Musk tried to back out of the deal multiple times, alleging that Twitter had significantly underreported the number of bots on the platform.  (Variety)

On May 13, 2022, Musk tweeted: "Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users."

Musk's tweets and additional comments sent shares of Twitter sliding by almost 10% in a single session.  (The Guardian)

Thousands of investors — watching the stock collapse — sold their shares. They believed the deal was dead.

It wasn't. And a jury just decided that Musk knew exactly what he was doing.

⚖️ The Verdict — Historic Decision

A California jury on Friday largely sided with Twitter shareholders who accused billionaire Elon Musk of making false statements and intentionally driving down the social media company's stock ahead of his $44 billion acquisition in 2022.  (Times Herald Online)

The nine-person jury returned the verdict after nearly four days of deliberation, nearly three weeks after the trial began on March 2. They said that while Musk was liable for misleading investors with two tweets — including one that said the Twitter deal was "temporarily on hold," he did not do so with a statement he made on a podcast and that he did not intentionally "scheme" to defraud investors.  (Daily Mail)

"We are thrilled with the jury's decision today, which we believe is the largest securities jury verdict in United States history," Mark Molumphy, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said. "The jury sent a strong message that no one is above the law."  (Times Herald Online)

💰 How Much Will Musk Pay?

The jury awarded shareholders between about $3 and $8 per stock per day as damages, which the plaintiffs' lawyers said amounts to about $2.1 billion. Musk's fortune is currently estimated at about $814 billion, much of it tied up in Tesla shares.  (Al Jazeera)

To put that in perspective — $2.5 billion is roughly 0.3% of Musk's net worth. For the average American, that's like paying $300 out of $100,000 in savings.

😏 Musk's Own Words at Trial

During the trial, Musk testified: "if this was a trial about whether I made stupid tweets, I would say I'm guilty," although he added he did not believe the posts would cause anything "material."  (Times Herald Online)

The jury disagreed.

🔄 Musk Will Appeal

Musk plans to appeal the decision, according to lawyers for the billionaire. "We view today's verdict, where the jury found both for and against the plaintiffs and found no fraud scheme, as a bump in the road. And we look forward to vindication on appeal," lawyers for Quinn Emanuel said.  (Times Herald Online)

Minutes after the judgment was announced, lawyers for Musk said their client will appeal the decision, characterizing it as a "setback." Musk, who has a near-constant presence on X, did not immediately react to the verdict, which marks a rare legal defeat for the billionaire often dubbed "Teflon Elon" for his ability to emerge unscathed from lawsuits he is expected to lose.  (The Hollywood Reporter)

📊 The Elon Musk vs. Twitter Timeline:

Date

Event

April 2022

Musk offers $54.20/share

May 13, 2022

"Deal on hold" tweet — stock -10%

May 17, 2022

Second misleading tweet

Oct 2022

Musk forced to complete deal

Oct 2022

Shareholders sue Musk

March 2, 2026

Trial begins in San Francisco

March 20, 2026

JURY FINDS MUSK LIABLE

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Do you think $2.5 billion is enough punishment for Musk? Drop your opinion below! 👇