Elon Musk Faces Compensation of Tens of Trillions of Rupiah in Twitter Acquisition Case
A shocking decision has emerged from a court in California, United States. The jury stated that Elon Musk misled Twitter shareholders ahead of the acquisition of the social media company valued at $44 billion USD, based on the ruling released on Friday (20/3/2026) local time. The compensation amount in this case is substantial, potentially reaching up to $2.6 billion USD or approximately Rp 43.94 trillion (exchange rate Rp 16,900), according to the plaintiff’s lawyer. The class action lawsuit Pampena v. Musk was filed after Musk completed the purchase of Twitter in October 2022 at $54.20 USD per share or approximately Rp 915,980 per share. After the acquisition, Twitter was renamed X and then merged with xAI and SpaceX. “This case is not just about Musk, but about the overall practices,” he added. This case originates from Musk’s change of stance after submitting an offer to buy Twitter in April 2022. He began doubting the number of bots and fake accounts on the platform, even calling the acquisition “temporarily on hold” until that data could be verified. Those statements had a significant impact. Twitter’s shares immediately fell nearly 10 percent in one trading day. After a four-day process, the jury unanimously stated that Musk’s tweets on 13 and 17 May were materially misleading. Investors viewed Musk’s actions as an attempt to pressure the price to buy Twitter cheaper than the initial offer. The plaintiffs claimed they sold shares below $54.20 USD in response to Musk’s statements, thus incurring significant losses. Nevertheless, the jury also stated that Musk was not proven to have carried out a specific scheme to defraud investors. Musk’s legal team defended that their client’s statements were based on valid concerns regarding bots, spam, and fake accounts on Twitter, not market manipulation. This ruling delivers a severe reputational blow to Musk. However, from a financial perspective, its impact is relatively small compared to his total wealth of approximately $650 billion USD or equivalent to Rp 10,985 trillion.