Tesla investors on Tuesday asked a judge to order Elon Musk to repay the electric carmaker for the 2016 acquisition of solar panel producer SolarCity. The company has been integrated and reorganized, and is now known as Tesla Solar.
The plaintiffs on the case filed last year claim Musk used his position as Tesla’s controlling shareholder to coerce the electric vehicle maker’s board into the deal to acquire the company that was highly indebted and unstable at the time. Shareholders say the deal was needless and heaped Tesla with SolarCity’s financial problems and debt.
“This case has always been about whether the acquisition of SolarCity was a rescue from financial distress, a bailout, orchestrated by Elon Musk,” Randy Baron, an attorney for shareholders, told the court hearing via Zoom on Tuesday, as cited by Reuters.
Also, the all-stock deal cost Tesla some $2.6 billion at the time, but Tesla’s market price has soared since then. Shareholders claim the deal would be worth around $13 billion at Tesla’s current price.