Former aide claims Elon Musk made a "handshake arrangement" with Saudi PIF representatives before tweeting "money secured."

 Sam Teller, Musk's former chief of staff, testified on Wednesday that Musk had a "handshake deal" with representatives from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment. Musk had taken the stand earlier in the trial. The CEO testified that he had valid reasons for revealing his plans to take the company private. 

 

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Had it succeeded, the company would have gone private at $420 per share. As of writing, Musk's company is worth $572 billion. In his testimony, the former chief of staff stated that Musk and representatives from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund had held a number of meetings. The last meeting was done on July 31, 2018). 

 

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Musk spoke to the governor of the Saudi fund during the meeting. Musk pointed out that it would be expensive to take the company private, according to the former aide. According to a report from The Seattle Times, the former Musk aide said that they made a handshake deal to proceed. The CEO was alert that a report in the Financial Times was about to be published when Musk posted his message. 

 

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In a later message, Musk explained his reasons for taking private. The company published a message on their website. As a public company, we are subject to wild swings in our stock price that can be a major distraction for everyone working atTesla, all of whom are shareholders. Being public subjects us to the quarterly earnings cycle that puts enormous pressure on the company to make decisions that are not necessarily right for the long-term. 

 

 

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As the most shorted stock in the history of the stock market, being public means that there are large numbers of people who have the incentive to attack the company. He noted that his job as Musk's aide was similar to an air traffic controller. He said there was a lot of problem-solving at all hours. The aide admitted that he had to stop working for the CEO in 2019. 

Teller said it was time to do something else because he was tired.