Shares of Tesla Inc jumped 18 percent on Monday as signs it had met targets for quarterly auto production added to relief at Chief Executive Elon Musk's settling of a lawsuit with regulators that had threatened to force him out.
Musk will reportedly buy $20 million worth of Tesla's stock at the next trading opportunity, according to a Bloomberg report, citing a person familiar with the matter.
The rise pretty much makes up for the losses suffered Friday, after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially sued Musk over his tweet about having secured funding for a plan to take Tesla private. The SEC charges against Musk shaved about $7 billion off Tesla's value.
On August 7th, 2018, Elon Musk used his prolific Twitter account to state that he was "considering taking Tesla private at $420" per share, claiming that funding was already secured. On Saturday, the SEC released an update announcing that Musk had accepted a settlement for his lawsuit. According to SEC, this settlement will assist Tesla to strengthen its corporate governance and protect its investors.
The CEO of Tesla, of course, Elon Musk's Twitter communications have always been patchy and seemingly unreflected.
The charges come after Musk claimed in August via a series of tweets that he was planning to take the electric vehicle maker private, and implied that such a move was imminent with "funding secured".
As part of the settlement with the SEC, Tesla will also appoint an independent chairman and two independent directors, responding to calls on Wall Street to relieve the pressure on Musk and provide more balance in the carmaker's management.
On Sunday, the tech entrepreneur then followed this up with another email, pleading with staff to "go all out" to help the company achieve its goals.
Steven Peikin, co-director of the SEC's Enforcement Division said the resolution is meant to prevent further market disruption and harm to Tesla investors.
At the same time, Tesla has also settled new charges of "failing to have required disclosure controls and procedures relating to Musk's tweets", and will also pay a penalty of $20m. Tesla has never reported a net profit and has been burning through cash since it was created in 2003.
