Musk Downplays Impact of His Tweets at Tesla Fraud Trial (1)

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk played down how much impact his tweets have on the company’s stock price as he defended himself at a trial over his 2018 tweet about taking the electric car-maker private.

“It’s difficult to say the stock price is linked to the tweet,” he told jurors Friday in San Francisco federal court. “Just because I tweet about something doesn’t mean people believe it or will act accordingly.”

The investors contend the tweets amounted to lies that cost them big losses from wild stock price swings over a 10-day period before the plan was abandoned. The trial ...