NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Tesla, Inc. ("Tesla" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: TSLA) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Northern District of California, and docketed under index 18-cv-05470, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired Tesla securities between August 7, 2018 through August 17, 2018, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.
If you are a shareholder who purchased Tesla securities between August 7, 2018, and August 17, 2018, both dates inclusive, you have until October 9, 2018, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 9980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.
On August 7, 2018, Defendant Elon Musk, Tesla's co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"), issued the following statement via Twitter: "Am Considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured."
In reaction to Musk's tweet, the price of Tesla's common stock increased, reaching an intra-day high of $387.46 per share—$45.47 per share higher than the previous day's closing price—and closed at $379.57 per share on August 7, 2018, an increase of $37.58 per share, or approximately 11%.
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Defendants had not secured funding for a transaction to take Tesla private; (ii) Tesla's Board of Directors was unaware of any plan to take Tesla private; (iii) Musk had not retained advisors in connection with his purported plan to take Tesla private; (iv) the status and likelihood of Tesla going private was therefore misrepresented to the market; and (v) as a result, Tesla's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On August 8, 2018, reports began to emerge that the SEC had made inquiries into Musk's tweet and whether it was truthful that he did, in fact, have "funding secured" to take Tesla private.
Following this news, Tesla's stock price fell $9.23 per share, or 2.4%, to close at $370.34 per share on August 8, 2018.
On August 9, 2018, Tesla's stock price continued to fall after facts emerged after the market closed on August 8, 2018 and later on August 9, 2018 that Musk's tweet had, in fact, triggered an SEC inquiry. For example, The Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC "has asked Musk to produce proof that he's secured funding. . ." and numerous other media sources reported that Musk did not have funding secured prior to issuing his statement to that effect via Twitter.
Following this news, Tesla's stock price fell by more than $17.89 per share, nearly 5%, to close at $352.45 per share on August 9, 2018, resulting in a two-day decline of more than 7%.
On August 13, 2018, post-market, Musk stated via Twitter: "I'm excited to work with Silver Lake and Goldman Sachs as financial advisers, plus Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Munger, Tolles & Olson as legal advisors, on the proposal to take Tesla private." However, on August 14, 2018, Bloomberg reported that at the time of Musk's August 13, 2018 Twitter announcement, neither Goldman Sachs nor Silver Lake were yet working with Musk pursuant to a signed agreement or in an official capacity.
On this news, Tesla's stock price fell $8.77 per share, or nearly 2.5%, to close at $347.64 per share on August 14, 2018.
On August 24, 2018, Musk issued a statement on the Company's website, stating that he would abandon his plan to take Tesla private.