On the evening of May 12, Beijing time, it is reported that people familiar with the matter said today that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Tesla CEO Elon Musk because he bought a large number of twitter shares before announcing his acquisition of twitter, but did not disclose it in time.
According to the regulations, investors need to report in time after purchasing more than 5% of a company's shares, but musk did not disclose this information to the SEC in time. It is reported that musk was at least 10 days late.
Musk announced on April 4 that he had purchased 73486938 twitter shares, accounting for 9.2%, becoming the largest shareholder of twitter. After the announcement, Twitter's share price soared by nearly 25%.
Musk began to buy twitter shares on a large scale after January 28 this year. According to SEC regulations, he should submit this information to the sec before March 24.
Musk may have saved $143 million (in subsequent purchases) because he didn't report in time that he bought more than 5% of twitter shares. Daniel Taylor, an accounting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said this was because if public investors had known musk was buying twitter shares, the share price might have risen.
On April 12, a shareholder of twitter filed a lawsuit against musk, saying that if he disclosed the information in time, investors would make considerable profits from March 24 to April 4.
Musk offered to buy twitter on April 14, and twitter accepted his offer on April 25. The deal still needs to be approved by shareholders and regulators. Industry insiders said that even if the SEC filed a lawsuit against musk, it is unlikely to disrupt the completion of the transaction.
The SEC has yet to respond to a request for comment.