Musk says tweet on taking company private was ‘worth it’

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Friday that a tweet he sent regarding his plans to take the company private was “worth it,” even after it sparked a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inquiry into the company and cost him a $20 million penalty.

In a conversation on his Twitter account Saturday evening, Musk told his 23.4 million followers that he would be “signing off Twitter for a few days,” while commenting about the “brutal” criticism on the social media platform.

“Signing off Twitter for a few days,” the CEO wrote, adding in another tweet: “On Twitter, likes are rare & criticism is brutal. So hardcore. It’s great.”{mosads}

Signing off Twitter for a few days …

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2018

On Twitter, likes are rare & criticism is brutal. So hardcore. It’s great.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2018

Questioned by a user whether he thought it was “great” that his previous use of the platform had cost Tesla a civil penalty of $20 million, Musk responded simply, “worth it.”

Worth it

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 26, 2018

Musk’s tweets have been the subject of controversy since he tweeted in July that he was planning to take Tesla private, noting that shareholders could sell shares at $420 or hold shares and go private. The tweet set off a scramble among reporters and shareholders.

The SEC alleged that Musk had not secured funding and found the tweet to be in violation of SEC regulations.

The Tesla founder was forced to step down as chairman for three years over the incident after reaching a settlement with the SEC.

“Musk knew or was reckless in not knowing that each of these statements was false and/or misleading because he did not have an adequate basis in fact for his assertions,” the SEC wrote in its ruling.