Elon Musk mocks the SEC on Twitter A few days after the settlement

The fait accompli of Elon Musk

The SEC sued Musk at the end of September, following a tweet on August 7 stating that he was reconsidering Tesla's public status and that he could sell it at a private price of $ 420. per share, adding that he had "obtained financing" for the conversion. Tesla's share price rose sharply in response. The SEC alleged that the tweet was "false and misleading" and that Musk knew that the move was uncertain and that he had in fact discussed the plan with none of the potential financiers. In its lawsuit, the agency asked Musk to give up his position as general manager and sought to ban him from serving on the board of directors of a public company.

The final terms of the settlement were less severe. The final agreement did not require Musk and Tesla to admit or deny any wrongdoing, and SEC President Jay Clayton even The New York Times that the agency wanted to strike a balance between sanctioning violations and "the skills and support of certain people" that could be important "for the future success of a company".

Maybe Musk feels emboldened by this result. Musk, along with his supporters, certainly sees himself as an important, if not extremely important, element of Tesla's success. It is possible that he thinks that if the SEC can certainly penalize his car empire, it is unlikely that the agency will call his bluffs and force him to give up his control.

The mention of short sellers in Thursday's tweet is not so surprising; Musk often mocks them on Twitter. These investors make profits by betting against a company: borrow shares, sell them at the market rate, and then buy them when the price goes down. Tesla's short sellers say they make their decisions on financial calculations, but Musk has accused them of conspiring against the company. Tesla is indeed a particularly popular target of short sellers, as my colleague Ian Bogost recently pointed out. This spring, the short-term interest in the Tesla stock far outstripped that of much larger companies.

The new deal with the SEC, however, appears to be an escalation of Musk's usual financial market complaints and could have implications for Tesla's future. A few hours before Musk posted his tweet mocking the SEC, a federal judge in New York, where the settlement was filed, ordered the CEO and the agency to justify the deal. The US District Judge, Alison Nathan, said the court had to "determine at least if the agreement was appropriate" before approving it, and asked both parties to file "a joint letter not exceeding not ten double-spaced pages explaining why the court should approve the proposed consent judgment. "That sounds like the Hellenic School Group project, and Musk's thug tweet just made sure the process will be even more complicated.