Tesla and Elon Musk agreed to pay $ 20 million apiece to financial regulators, and the billionaire will step down as chairman of the company's board, but will continue as chief executive under an agreement ending a two-month period turbulent for the cars manufacturing company.
The agreement, disclosed by the SEC on Saturday, comes as a relief to investors who worried that a lengthy legal battle would further worsen the electric car company.
The SEC accused Musk, on Thursday (27) of misleading investors with tweets on Aug. 7, claiming that he was considering making Tesla private at $ 420 a share and that it had secured financing.
Tweets were not based on facts, and the resulting market turmoil hurt investors, SEC said.
Investors and corporate governance experts said the deal could strengthen Tesla, who was hampered by Musk's recent behavior, including smoking marijuana and wielding a sword in a webcast, as well as attacking a British rescue diver by Twitter.
Source:tecnologia.uol.com.
