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Tesla Drops Plan to Go Private

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk and the company’s board announced late tonight that they have decided against privatizing the electric car company.
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Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk and the company’s board announced late tonight that they have decided against privatizing the electric car company.

Musk’s own blog post tonight regarding the about-face in strategy concedes that “it’s apparent that most of Tesla’s shareholders believe we are better off as a public company.”

The board says it has dissolved a special committee it created on Aug. 14 to evaluate privatization. The panel was formed after Musk unilaterally declared in a nine-word tweet on Aug. 7 that he was considering taking the company private and had “funding secured” to do so at $420 per share. Tesla closed today just under $323.

That was not true, and Musk began backpedaling on Aug. 13. Meanwhile, uncertainty about the status of the plan spawned at least two lawsuits by Tesla shareholders and launched an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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