What is a 'halal mortgage'? Does it make housing more accessible?
The 2024 federal budget announced on April 16 included plans to introduce “halal mortgages” as a way to increase access to home ownership.
A California jury has ruled that Elon Musk is not liable for losses experienced by Tesla shareholders following his controversial "funding secured" tweet from 2018.
The unanimous verdict, announced Friday in US District Court, ends a three-week long trial over a class-action shareholder lawsuit regarding the tweet, in which the billionaire said that he was thinking about taking Tesla private for $420 a share and had "funding secured." Those two words resulted in the CEO having to forfeit his position as Tesla's executive chairman and pay millions of dollars in fines and legal fees.
Musk had spoken to executives of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund about the funding he would need to take Tesla private. However, it was anything but "secured."
The plaintiffs — several Tesla shareholders who alleged that they lost significant portions of their investments in the wake of the share price volatility following the tweet — were seeking monetary damages from Musk, Tesla and other Tesla directors in their lawsuit.
However, the jury ruled that plaintiffs failed to prove any of their four claims against Musk and the other defendants.
"Thank goodness, the wisdom of the people has prevailed!" Musk tweeted after the verdict was announced. "I am deeply appreciative of the jury's unanimous finding."
Nicholas Porritt, a lawyer representing the Tesla shareholders, told CNN: "We are disappointed with the verdict and examining next steps."
Tesla shares initially climbed 11% on the day of Musk's original "funding secured" tweet, but they never reached that promised $420 level, reaching a high that day of $387.46. And they soon fell well below their pre-tweet price of $344, hitting $263.24 a month later, as it became clear that the funding was less than secure. That prompted the shareholder suit that is just now reaching trial after more than four years.
A turn from losses to profits about a year after the tweet started Tesla shares on an extraordinary run, gaining 1520% from the day of the tweet to its record high in November 2021. That record close of $409.97 works out to $6,150 a share, when adjusted for the two stock splits since that day. Even with the 70% decline in Tesla shares from that all-time high to Friday's close, shares are still up 384% since the close on the day of the 2018 tweet.
Musk's tweet also prompted a civil suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency charged with protecting investors by requiring executives to tell the truth. It originally sought to strip him of his position as Tesla's CEO. It eventually reached a settlement with Musk in which he and Tesla each agreed to pay $20 million in fines, and Musk gave up his title as chairman of the company but retained the CEO title. It also required that any tweet he sent out with material information about Tesla be reviewed in advance by other company executives.
The lead plaintiff in the shareholder lawsuit, Glen Littleton, testified last month that he lost more than 75% of his investments following Musk's "funding secured" tweet.
"I wanted to ensure my livelihood. This represented a threat to my livelihood," he said of Tesla not, in fact, being taken private for $420 per share.
Musk in his testimony, however, argued that his tweets do not cause Tesla's stock price to move higher or lower.
"The causal relationship is clearly not there simply because of a tweet," Musk said.
Musk also argued that the character constraint of Twitter made it difficult to be as verbose as one might be in a formal financial filing, which are detailed, subject to regulations and vetted by financial disclosure experts.
- Matt McFarland contributed to this report
The 2024 federal budget announced on April 16 included plans to introduce “halal mortgages” as a way to increase access to home ownership.
A recent report sheds light on Canadians living abroad--estimated at around four million people in 2016—and the public policies that impact them.
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
An election-year roast of U.S. President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday.
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said Saturday that the onetime movie mogul has been hospitalized for a battery of tests after his return to New York City following an appeals court ruling nullifying his 2020 rape conviction.
Polish President Andrzej Duda says while no decision has been made around whether Poland will host nuclear weapons as part of an expansion of the NATO alliance’s nuclear sharing program, his country is willing and prepared to do so.
A number of LGBQT+2s groups in Central Alberta are pushing back against a request from the Red Deer South UCP constituency to reinstate MLA Jennifer Johnson into the UCP caucus.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”