[1/5] Elon Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022.
He added later that he chose not to take Tesla private due to a lack of support from some investors and a wish to avoid a lengthy process.
Musk told the investors' lawyer Nicholas Porritt that he met on July 31, 2018, with representatives of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California.
That never came to pass, Musk said, because the fund's governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, later backpedaled on the commitment to take Tesla private.
"I was very upset because he had been unequivocal in his support for taking Tesla private when we met and now he appeared to be backpedaling," Musk testified.