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☆ Court Allows the PGA Tour to Directly Sue LIV Golf’s Saudi Backers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Andrew Beaton | Louise Radnofsky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, left, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Majed Al-Sorour, CEO of Golf Saudi, center, and Greg Norman, CEO of LIV Golf. Since the beginning of the high-profile legal wranglings between the PGA Tour and its rival LIV Golf last year, the Tour has consistently angled to place LIV’s backing from Saudi Arabia at the center of the feud. Now, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has granted one of the PGA Tour’s chief goals. A ruling issued late Tuesday will allow the Tour to add Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, LIV’s financial backer, and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan , as defendants in its lawsuit against LIV.

☆ LIV Golf’s Saudi Backers Ordered to Turn Over Information in PGA Tour Suit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Louise Radnofsky | Andrew Beaton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Dustin Johnson hits from the tee during a LIV Golf event. A federal judge has ruled that LIV Golf’s financial backer, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan , aren’t entitled to sovereign immunity and must turn over information connected with the upstart circuit’s courtroom battle with the PGA Tour. The PIF and Al-Rumayyan had argued that there was no court in the U.S. with jurisdiction over them, saying they were shielded because they are part of a foreign government.

☆ Elon Musk says he is 'deeply appreciative' of the jury that cleared him in the Tesla trial, tweeting 'Thank goodness'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk was cleared Friday by a federal jury over his "funding secured" 2018 tweet to take Tesla private. "Thank goodness" the billionaire tweeted late Friday night following the verdict by a federal jury of nine individuals in the civil trial. Musk's 2018 tweet, which pushed Tesla's shareholders to launch the costly legal battle against him, read: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." Musk told jurors in January that he trusted Al-Rumayyan's verbal promises, which led to the "funding secured" tweet about taking Tesla private.

☆ Elon Musk was reportedly cleared by a federal jury's verdict that his 'funding secured' tweet in 2018 didn't harm Tesla investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A jury found investors failed to prove Elon Musk derailed them with his tweet that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private, per the WSJ. Tesla investors had alleged that his public statements resulted in billions of dollars in damages. Those verbal assurances in part led him to tweet that he had "funding secured" for a take-private deal for Tesla, he told jurors last month. Musk's tweet, which he posted in August 2018, read, "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Porritt, the Tesla investors' attorney, had framed the stakes of the case in sweeping, existential terms, arguing that it came down to a question of whether regular investors could trust the public markets.

Musk is defending against claims he defrauded investors by tweeting on Aug. 7, 2018, that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private at $420 per share, and that "investor support is confirmed." Musk testified for about five hours on Monday and for less than 30 minutes on Friday. Tesla's stock price surged after Musk's 2018 tweets, only to fall as it became clear the buyout would not happen. Musk testified that when tweeting about the financing, he was saying "not that it will happen, but that I am thinking about it," and that it was his "opinion" that funding was secured. Musk said the fund's governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, later backpedaled on the commitment to take Tesla private.

Companies Tesla Inc FollowJan 24 (Reuters) - Elon Musk will take the stand on Tuesday in San Francisco, after telling a jury on Monday that he had locked up financial support in 2018 to take his electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) private. Musk is defending against claims he defrauded investors by tweeting on Aug. 7, 2018, that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private at $420 per share, and that "investor support is confirmed." "With SpaceX stock alone, I felt funding was secured" for the buyout, Musk told a jury on Monday, referring to the aerospace company where he is also chief executive officer. Tesla's stock price surged after Musk's 2018 tweets, only to fall as it became clear the buyout would not happen. Musk said the fund's governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, later backpedaled on the commitment to take Tesla private.

Musk is defending against claims he defrauded investors by tweeting on Aug. 7, 2018, that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private at $420 per share, and that "investor support is confirmed." He has testified 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. A jury of nine will decide whether the Tesla CEO artificially inflated the company's share price by touting the buyout's prospects, and if so by how much. In addition, Musk testified on Monday that he met on July 31, 2018, with representatives of the Public Investment Fund at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California. Musk said the fund's governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, later backpedaled on the commitment to take Tesla private.

[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.

"PIF unequivocally wanted to take Tesla private," he testified. Musk subsequently said that Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the fund, 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. Tesla's stock price surged after Musk's tweets, and later fell as it became clear the buyout would not materialize. Musk testified calmly, in contrast to his occasional combative testimony in earlier trials.

Musk defended his "funding secured" tweet in a securities fraud trial brought by Tesla shareholders. He testified that he sent the tweet after verbal assurances from Saudi investor Yasir Al-Rumayyan. He said that Al-Rumayyan told them that "they would do whatever it took to get it done," and that he'd been "unequivocal" about supporting the deal. Al-Rumayyan, Musk, and attorneys for Musk and Tesla shareholders did not respond to a request for comment from Insider ahead of publication. The billionaire claims he planned to take Tesla private at the time of tweeting "funding secured" in August 2018.

The lawsuit seeks damages for shareholders who bought or sold Tesla stock in the days after Musk's tweets on Aug. 7, 2018. The shareholders have not specified the damages, but said Musk's tweets cost investors "billions." Potential panelists were asked ahead of time about their opinions of Musk and whether they own a Tesla vehicle. Investors sued in August 2018, shortly after Musk posted on Twitter that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share. The defendants have said in court papers that they will argue that Musk had good reason to believe funding for the deal was secured.

☆ Tesla investors argue Musk can receive fair 'funding secured' trial in San Francisco
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Tom Hals | Thomson Reuters | Award-Winning Reporter With More Than Two Decades Of Experience In International News | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Videos of an audience booing Musk during a surprise appearance at a Dave Chappelle show in San Francisco in December were circulated online. Tesla moved its headquarters from the San Francisco area to Texas in 2021. Musk tweeted in August 2018 that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private, sparking 10 days of volatile trading in its stock shares, bonds and options. Defendants, which also include Tesla and its board at the time, will make their case that Musk was not misleading investors in a material way. Additional reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Elon Musk attorneys try to move trial from California to Texas, citing ‘local negativity’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Attorneys for Tesla and Elon Musk are asking a federal judge in San Francisco to move, or delay, a forthcoming trial from Northern California to Western Texas, saying they won’t be able to find unbiased jurors and citing “local negativity” toward Musk. That year, Musk resided in California and Tesla was headquartered in Palo Alto. In a recent public appearance in San Francisco, Musk was booed after comedian Dave Chappelle invited him on stage. The Tesla CEO has repeatedly claimed that he made a handshake deal with investors from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to take Tesla private at $420 per share. Text messages revealed in another trial in 2022 suggested Saudi PIF investors had not fully agreed to fund a Tesla deal.

☆ Elon Musk attorneys aim to move trial from California to Texas, citing ‘local negativity’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Attorneys for Tesla and Elon Musk are asking a federal judge in San Francisco to move, or delay, a forthcoming trial from Northern California to Western Texas, saying they won't be able to find unbiased jurors and citing "local negativity" toward Musk. That year, Musk resided in California and Tesla was headquartered in Palo Alto. In a recent public appearance in San Francisco, Musk was booed after comedian Dave Chappelle invited him on stage. Musk and his attorneys have previously argued that his statements about a possible take-private deal for Tesla in 2018 did not violate the law. The Tesla CEO has repeatedly claimed that he made a handshake deal with investors from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund to take Tesla private at $420 per share.

As the Covid-19 pandemic sent global markets swooning in early 2020, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, sensing opportunity, pressed the country’s sovereign-wealth fund to go on an international stock-buying spree. The board of the Public Investment Fund, or PIF, resisted the move as too risky, but soon found itself overruled by an even higher authority, Prince Mohammed’s father, King Salman, according to an October podcast by the PIF governor, Yasir al-Rumayyan.

☆ Elon Musk's lawyers subpoena head of Saudi Arabia's $620 billion wealth fund for Tesla 'funding secured' tweets case
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Investors are suing Elon Musk over an August 2018 tweet where he claimed he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private. Musk's lawyers have subpoenaed Saudi Arabia's top wealth manager to be a defense witness in the upcoming court case. Text messages disclosed in April showed Musk raging at Yasir Al-Rumayyan for not supporting his efforts to privatize Tesla. PIF is a sovereign wealth fund – meaning that it invests on behalf of Saudi Arabia's government. Read more: Elon Musk raged at the head of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund for failing to support his bid to take Tesla private, texts show

☆ Head of Saudi investment fund subpoenaed in case over Musk’s ‘funding secured’ tweet
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Elon Musk’s team has subpoenaed the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as part of litigation over the Tesla CEO’s 2018 tweet that he was considering taking the car company private and had secured funding to do so. Musk has long maintained that he was considering taking Tesla private at the time he made the tweet. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund invests in entities that are important to the country’s economic growth, and says it had $620 billion assets under management as of early 2022. Musk’s team also subpoenaed three other members of the Saudi Public Investment Fund. The Tesla CEO also expressed frustration about several news reports citing unnamed sources that suggested the Saudi fund had shown no interest in funding a take-private deal.

☆ PGA Tour Accuses LIV Golf’s Saudi Benefactors of Claiming Immunity From U.S. Courts
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Andrew Beaton | Louise Radnofsky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

LIV Golf’s financing from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund has loomed over the upstart golf circuit since its inception, above all in its battles with the PGA Tour. Now, the PGA Tour has accused LIV of attempting to evade discovery in their high-profile court battle by claiming that there is no court in the U.S. with jurisdiction over LIV’s financial backer, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan .

☆ PGA Tour Accuses LIV Golf’s Saudi Benefactors of Claiming Immunity from U.S. Courts
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Andrew Beaton | Louise Radnofsky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to humiliate Biden as part of a global power play
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman wants to assert himself internationally. It is a change driven by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, who is deliberately snubbing the US in an attempt to chart a more independent path, an expert told Insider. Specifically, this has taken the form of Saudi Arabia joining Russia other oil-rich nations to announce a steep cut in production. Cafiero, the analysts, said that Crown Prince Mohammed believes that drawing closer to Russia and China will secure more "leverage" internationally. "Bin Salman and others in Saudi Arabia took a tremendous amount of offense to that rhetoric.

☆ Justice Department's antitrust investigation of PGA Tour includes U.S. Golf Association
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Jack Stebbins | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Justice Department's antitrust investigation of the PGA Tour's actions against the upstart LIV Golf league has also ensnared the Augusta National Golf Club and the United States Golf Association. The managing director of LIV Golf, Majed Al Sorour, had warned that LIV would start its own majors, but later walked back the comment on Twitter. Mickelson, meanwhile, told Sports Illustrated that he "wholeheartedly" expects to play at the Masters despite his LIV Golf affiliation. Both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have been lobbying in Washington D.C. to state their case against the other. LIV Golf also filed its own antitrust suit against the PGA Tour in September, and the tour subsequently countersued, alleging that LIV Golf was anticompetitive because of its restrictive player contracts.

☆ PGA Tour sues LIV Golf's Saudi backers to force evidence discovery
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Jack Stebbins | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The PGA Tour has filed a lawsuit against LIV Golf backers, the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, an entity controlled by the Saudi crown prince, in an effort to force evidence discovery in ongoing legal battles. LIV Golf sued the tour alleging anti-competitive practices for banning its players, and the tour recently countersued LIV Golf, claiming the upstart league was itself stifling competition. "LIV Golf is just beginning its process and is in active discussions with several companies about broadcasting the LIV Golf League. Meanwhile, the PGA tour has taken to Washington D.C. to lobby against LIV Golf, and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, a former PGA Tour star, made his own visit to Capitol Hill in mid-September to "educate members on LIV's business model and counter the Tour's anti-competitive efforts." The LIV Golf championship will take place starting Oct. 28 at the Trump National Doral in Miami.

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