Elon Musk found not guilty of fraud over Tesla tweet

Tesla founder Elon Musk has been cleared of wrongdoing for a tweet in which he said he had "funding secured" to take the electric carmaker private.

Mr Musk faced a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Tesla shareholders who argued he misled them with his posts in August 2018.

The proposed $72bn (£60bn) buyout never materialised.

If the San Francisco jury had found Mr Musk liable he could have been ordered to pay billions of dollars in damages.

It took the nine jurors less than two hours to reach their verdict on Friday afternoon.

Mr Musk - who had wanted the trial moved to Texas, where Tesla is based, arguing he could not get a fair trial in San Francisco - welcomed the outcome. read more