In today’s interconnected world, access to reliable and high-speed internet has become an essential aspect of modern life. The internet serves as the backbone of communication, information sharing, education, business, and countless other activities that shape our daily routines. However, despite the significant advancements in internet technology over the past few decades, a considerable part of the global population remains underserved or even entirely disconnected from the digital world. This digital divide is particularly evident in rural and remote areas, where traditional internet infrastructure is often impractical or prohibitively expensive to deploy. To address this pressing issue and fulfill the growing necessity for internet services worldwide, innovative solutions have emerged. One of the most ambitious and groundbreaking ventures is Starlink, a satellite internet constellation project spearheaded by SpaceX, the private space exploration company founded by Elon Musk. What is StarLink? Starlink is a project created by SpaceX, a private company led by Elon Musk. They're putting a bunch of satellites up in space to make the internet work better for everyone. These satellites form a "constellation" and help bring the internet to even the remotest places on earth. Officially launched in 2019, the primary goal of Starlink is to provide global internet coverage by deploying a large number of small satellites into low earth orbit (LEO). Read more: How AI Can Improve Education Everything we know about Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellites and Future Internet Plans As of May 2023, Starlink’s operational network encompasses more than 4,000 mass-produced, compact satellites positioned in LEO. These satellites maintain communication with specific ground transceivers. The ambitious project aims to deploy a total of nearly 12,000 satellites, with potential future expansion of up to 42,000 satellites. Notably, SpaceX celebrated reaching a significant milestone by acquiring over 1 million subscribers in December 2022, and within just a few months, that number surged to 1.5 million subscribers as of May 2023. The Starlink Constellation: Size and Ambition The Starlink constellation consists of thousands of satellites orbiting at altitudes between 340 km (210 miles) and 1,200 km (750 miles) above earth’s surface. These satellites work in a cycle to create a network that beams high-speed internet signals down to earth, making it accessible to users with compatible receiving terminals, commonly referred to as user terminals or satellite dishes. Starlink’s internet is different from regular internet because it doesn’t use towers and cables on the ground. Instead, it has satellites that fly much closer to the earth. This closeness makes the internet faster because data doesn’t have to travel as far. It’s like having a shorter distance for messages to go back and forth between you and the satellite. This is really helpful in places that are far away from cities or places where getting good internet is hard. So, Starlink can provide better internet performance, especially in those remote and underserved areas. Read more: Top 10 Humanoid AI Robots in 2023 So Far Beta Testing and Expansion Starlink has conducted multiple phases of beta testing, known as the “Better Than Nothing Beta” program, where users in select regions were invited to test the service and provide feedback. During the beta phase, the system underwent improvements and optimizations based on user experiences. As the beta testing progresses, SpaceX has gradually expanded the coverage area, reaching more users in different parts of the world. The company has been seeking regulatory approvals from various countries to operate its satellite internet service globally. User Terminals (Satellite Dishes) To access the Starlink internet service, users receive a phased-array satellite dish, commonly known as a user terminal or satellite dish. These user terminals are designed to automatically track and connect to passing satellites overhead, making it easy for users to set up and use the service.

The government of the U.S. Virgin Islands is trying to subpoena billionaire Elon Musk for documents in its lawsuit seeking to hold JPMorgan Chase liable for sex trafficking acts committed by businessman Jeffrey Epstein. Musk has never been publicly accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 as he awaited sex trafficking charges in a federal jail in Manhattan. But over the years, there had been unconfirmed speculation — encouraged by Epstein himself — that Epstein had advised Musk on certain business matters. Also Read: Musk, new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino spar over content moderation during on-stage interview Spokespeople for Musk have denied those reports, but the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands said in a court filing that it believes Epstein may have referred or tried to refer Musk to JPMorgan as a potential client. The Virgin Islands, where Epstein had an estate, sued JPMorgan last year, saying its investigation has revealed that the financial services giant enabled Epstein’s recruiters to pay victims and was “indispensable to the operation and concealment of the Epstein trafficking enterprise.” Lawyers for JPMorgan did not immediately return messages seeking comment Monday. In the past, they have said victims are entitled to justice but litigation attempting to blame the financial institution for Epstein’s actions were legally meritless, directed at the wrong party and should be dismissed. Also Read: Elon Musk’s Tesla tweet trial delves into investor damages Authorities alleged that Epstein recruited and sexually abused dozens of underage girls at his mansions in New York and Palm Beach, Florida, in the early 2000s. He had pleaded not guilty. Lawyers for the Virgin Islands told a federal judge Monday that they haven't been able to locate Musk to serve him with the subpoena. They asked the court to serve Tesla, his electric vehicle company, instead. They said they hired an investigative firm to search public records databases for possible addresses for Musk and reached out to one of his lawyers by email, but received no response. A message sent to a lawyer for Musk seeking comment Monday was not immediately returned. The subpoena — one of several sent to prominent business figures — sought documents from Jan. 1, 2002, to the present reflecting communications between Musk and JPMorgan or Musk and Epstein regarding Epstein or Epstein’s role in Musk’s accounts, transactions or financial management. It also sought all documents reflecting or regarding Epstein’s involvement in human trafficking and his procurement of girls or women for commercial sex. And it sought information about fees Musk might have paid to Epstein or JPMorgan and any documents concerning communications between Musk, Epstein and JPMorgan regarding accounts, transactions or the relationship at JPMorgan.

SpaceX prepared to launch the biggest and most powerful rocket Thursday, working nonstop after the first shot at a test flight fizzled earlier in the week. The nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship was poised to blast off from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. SpaceX’s Elon Musk gave 50-50 odds of the spacecraft reaching orbit on its debut. None of the rocket will be recovered. Instead, if all goes well, the first-stage booster, dubbed Super Heavy, would drop into the Gulf of Mexico. The spacecraft on top would continue eastward, passing over the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans before ditching near Hawaii. The whole flight, if successful, would last just 1 1/2 hours. The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys. A stuck booster valve scrapped Monday’s try. Hundreds of space fans returned to the launch site at Boca Chica Beach on the eve of the second launch attempt, snapping more selfies. “I've been waiting for this, really, for years,” said Bob Drwal, a retired engineer who drove down from Chicago with wife Donna.

Several of the most important personalities in tech are urging artificial intelligence labs to halt training of the most powerful AI systems for at least six months, citing "profound risks to society and humanity." Elon Musk was among the hundreds of tech CEOs, educators, and researchers who signed a letter, which was released by Musk's organization, the Future of Life Institute, reports CNN. The letter comes only two weeks after OpenAI launched GPT-4, a more powerful version of the technology that powers ChatGPT, the popular AI chatbot application. The system demonstrated in early testing and a corporate demo that it can write lawsuits, pass standardized exams, and develop a website from a hand-drawn design, it said. Read More: How to Use AI Tools to Get Your Dream Job According to the letter, the delay should apply to AI systems "more powerful than GPT-4." It also stated that the suggested pause should be used by impartial experts to collaboratively establish and execute a set of standard protocols for AI tools that are safe "beyond a reasonable doubt." "Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth, and should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources," the letter said. "Unfortunately, this level of planning and management is not happening, even though recent months have seen AI labs locked in an out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one — not even their creators — can understand, predict, or reliably control." If a pause is not implemented immediately, the letter suggests that countries step in and impose a moratorium. Read More: Top 5 AI Chatbot Platforms and Trends in 2023 Experts in artificial intelligence are growing worried about the possibility for biased answers, the spread of disinformation, and the implications on consumer privacy. These technologies have also raised concerns about how AI might disrupt professions, allow students to cheat, and change human relationship with technology. The letter hinted at a larger dissatisfaction within and beyond the industry with the fast rate of AI progress. Early versions of AI governance frameworks have been introduced by several governing bodies in China, the EU, and Singapore. Read More: Google's AI Chatbot Bard: All You Need to Know 

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has reportedly indicated that the social media platform is now valued at less than $20 billion. According to technology news websites Platformer and the Information, who broke the story first, the estimate of Twitter’s valuation was based on Musk’s offer of equity grants to employees, reports BBC. A poo emoji was automatically sent in response to a BBC request for comment via Twitter’s press office email account, after Musk’s announcement of the strategy in a tweet earlier this month. Read More: Elon Musk apologizes after mocking disabled Twitter employee Meanwhile, Twitter reports that parts of the source code that powers multi-billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform have been leaked online. It claimed that the code was uploaded to the Microsoft-owned website GitHub, where developers share code, the report said. After Twitter made a request for its removal, it was taken down. Read More: Elon Musk hopes to have Twitter CEO toward the end of year After cutting more than a third of Twitter’s staff and dealing with a loss of advertising since acquiring the company in October of last year, the leak presented Musk with a new challenge, said the report.

— If you’re not told you are fired, are you really fired? At Twitter, probably. And then, sometimes, you get your job back — if you want it. Haraldur Thorleifsson, who until recently was employed at Twitter, logged in to his computer last Sunday to do some work — only to find himself locked out, along with 200 others. He might have figured, as others before him have in the chaotic months of layoffs and firings since Elon Musk took over the company, that he was out of a job. Instead, after nine days of no answer from Twitter as to whether or not he was still employed, Thorleifsson decided to tweet at Musk to see if he could catch the billionaire’s attention and get an answer to his Schrödinger’s job situation. “Maybe if enough people retweet you’ll answer me here?” he wrote on Monday. Eventually, he got his answer after a surreal Twitter exchange with Musk, who proceeded to quiz him about his work, question his disability and need for accommodations (Thorleifsson, who goes by “Halli,” has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair) and tweet that Thorleifsson has a “prominent, active Twitter account and is wealthy” and the “reason he confronted me in public was to get a big payout.” While the exchange was going on, Thorleifsson said he received an email that he was no longer employed.Late Tuesday afternoon, however, Musk had a change of heart. “I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful,” he tweeted. “He is considering remaining at Twitter.” Thorleifsson did not immediately respond to a message for comment following Musk’s tweet. In an earlier email, he called the experience “surreal.” “You had every right to lay me off. But it would have been nice to let me know!” he tweeted to Musk. Thorleifsson, who lives in Iceland, has about 151,000 Twitter followers (Musk has over 130 million). He joined Twitter in 2021, when the company, under the prior management, acquired his startup Ueno. He was lauded in Icelandic media for choosing to receive the purchase price in wages rather than a lump sum payout. That’s because this way, he would pay higher taxes to Iceland in support of its social services and safety net. Thorleifsson’s next move: “I’m opening a restaurant in downtown Reykjavik very soon,” he tweeted. “It’s named after my mom.” Twitter did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

Billionaire Elon Musk said Wednesday that he anticipates finding a CEO for Twitter “probably toward the end of this year." Speaking via a video call to the World Government Summit in Dubai, Musk said making sure the platform can function remained the most important thing for him. “I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it’s in a financial healthy place,” Musk said when asked about when he'd name a CEO. “I’m guessing probably toward the end of this year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company.” Musk, 51, made his wealth initially on the finance website PayPal, then created the spacecraft company SpaceX and invested in the electric car company Tesla. In recent months, however, more attention has been focused on the chaos surrounding his $44 billion purchase of the microblogging site Twitter. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military's use of Musk's satellite internet service Starlink as it defends itself against Russia's ongoing invasion has put Musk off and on at the center of the war. Also Read: Elon Musk’s Tesla tweet trial delves into investor damages Musk offered a wide-ranging 35-minute discussion that touched on the billionaire’s fears about artificial intelligence, the collapse of civilization and the possibility of space aliens. But questions about Twitter kept coming back up as Musk described both Tesla and SpaceX as able to function without his direct, day-to-day involvement. “Twitter is still somewhat a startup in reverse,” he said. “There’s work required here to get Twitter to sort of a stable position and to really build the engine of software engineering." Musk also sought to portray his takeover of San Francisco-based Twitter as a cultural correction. “I think that the general idea is just to reflect the values of the people as opposed to imposing the values of essentially San Francisco and Berkeley, which are so somewhat of a niche ideology as compared to the rest of the world," he said. "And, you know, Twitter was, I think, doing a little too much to impose a niche.” Musk's takeover at Twitter has seen mass firings and other cost-cutting measures. Musk, who is on the hook for about $1 billion in yearly interest payments for his purchase, has been trying to find way to maximize profits at the company. However, some of Musk's decisions have conflicted with the reasons that journalists, governments and others rely on Twitter as an information-sharing platform. Musk on Wednesday described the need for users to rely on Twitter for trusted information from verified accounts. However, a confused rollout to a paid verified account system saw some impersonate famous companies, leading to a further withdrawal of needed advertising cash to the site. “Twitter is certainly quite the rollercoaster,” he acknowledged. Forbes estimates Musk's wealth at just under $200 billion. The Forbes analysis ranks Musk as the second-wealthiest person on Earth, just behind French luxury brand magnate Bernard Arnault. But Musk also has become a thought leader for some as well, albeit an oracle that is trying to get six hours of sleep a night despite the challenges at Twitter. Musk described his children as being “programmed by Reddit and YouTube.” He warned that artificial intelligence should be regulated “very carefully,” describing it as akin to the promise of nuclear power but the danger of atomic bombs. He also cautioned against having a single civilization or “too much cooperation” on Earth, saying it could “collapse” a society that's like a “tiny candle in a vast darkness.” And asked about the existence of aliens, Musk had a firm response. “The crazy thing is, I’ve seen no evidence of alien technology or alien life whatsoever. And I think I’d know because of SpaceX,” he said. “I don't think anybody knows more about space, you know, than me.”

An Elon Musk tweet declaring he had the financing to take Tesla private in 2018 caused billions of dollars in investor damages after the deal collapsed, according to estimates presented Tuesday at a trial examining the haphazard handling of the buyout proposal. The mind-bending estimates laid out by two experts hired by attorneys representing Tesla shareholders underscored the challenges facing a nine-person jury as the three-week trial winds down this week. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen expects to turn the case over to the jury Friday. Depending on the verdict, Musk and the electric automaker that he runs could be facing more financial fallout for his unpredictable behavior on the Twitter platform, which he now owns. Without acknowledging any wrongdoing, Musk and Tesla reached a $40 million settlement with securities regulators after Musk’s troublesome tweets in August 2018. In this class-action lawsuit on behalf of Tesla shareholders, the jurors must first determine whether two tweets that Musk abruptly posted on Aug. 7, 2018 steered Tesla investors in the wrong direction. If the jury decides to hold Musk accountable for the tweets that Chen has already deemed falsehood s, they will will face what may be an even more formidable task — trying to calculate how much Musk — one of the world’s richest people — and Tesla should have to pay for the misleading tweets. Read: Ex-Twitter execs to testify on block of Hunter Biden story One of Tuesday’s two experts, economist Michael Hartzmark, reviewed a report peppered with terms such as “but-for” and “consequential inflation” that made a case for calculating the damages suffered by Tesla shareholders during a 10-day period in August 2018 at anywhere from $4 billion to $11 billion, or $22.55 to $66.67 per Tesla share at that time. Another expert, University of Maryland finance professor Steven Heston, reviewed an even denser report analyzing the impact of Musk’s tweets on more than 2,000 types of Tesla stock options, drawing largely upon a formula known as the Black-Scholes model widely used by companies to value executive compensation packages. When pressed by a Musk lawyer about the reliability of his model, Heston acknowledged: “All models deviate from reality, which is why they are models.” Heston, who said he was paid $300,000 to $350,000 for his work in the case, demurred on trying to make a concrete estimate on the investor damages, saying that was a job for the jurors. Read: Trump to be allowed back on Facebook after 2-year ban The crux of the case hinges on an Aug. 7, 2018, tweet in which Musk declared “funding secured ” to take Tesla private. Musk abruptly posted the tweet minutes before boarding his private jet after being alerted that the Financial Times was about to publish a story that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund had spent about $2 billion buying a 5% stake in Tesla to diversify its interests beyond oil, according to his testimony. Amid widespread confusion about whether Musk’s Twitter account had been hacked or he was joking, Musk followed up a few hours later with another tweet suggesting a deal was imminent. During roughly eight hours of sworn testimony, Musk repeatedly insisted he was looking after shareholders’ best interests and believed he had a financing commitment from the Saudi fund that was recanted after his “funding secured” tweet. Musk also testified he could have still pulled off the buyout by raising money from other investors and selling some of his stock in SpaceX, a rocket ship maker that he founded. After consulting with Tesla’s major shareholders, Musk decided the electric automaker should remain publicly traded — a decision that has paid off for him and other investors. Tesla’s shares are now worth more than eight times what they were at the time of Musk’s buyout tweet, after adjusting for two stock splits that have occurred since then.

Elon Musk returned to federal court Monday in San Francisco, testifying that he believed he had locked up financial backing to take Tesla private during 2018 meetings with representatives from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — although no specific funding amount or price was discussed. The 51-year-old billionaire Tesla CEO and Twitter owner is facing a class action lawsuit filed by Tesla investors alleging he misled them with a tweet saying funding was secured to take his electric car company private — for $420 per share. But the deal never came close to happening, and the tweet resulted in a $40 million settlement with securities regulators. Read more: Elon Musk depicted as liar, visionary in Tesla tweet trial The trial hinges on the question of whether a pair of tweets that Musk posted on Aug. 7, 2018, damaged Tesla shareholders during a 10-day period leading up to Musk's admission that the buyout he had envisioned wasn’t going to happen. Speaking in a soft halting tone, Musk said Monday he “had trouble sleeping last night and unfortunately I am not at my best.” He added that it was important for jurors to know that he “felt that funding was secured” due to his ownership of “SpaceX stock alone." “Just as I sold stock in Tesla to buy Twitter. ... I didn't want to sell Tesla stock but I did sell Tesla stock,” he said of the sale to make up for lack of funding from other sources for his $44 billion deal to take Twitter private. Musk sold nearly $23 billion worth of his car company’s shares between last April, when he started building a position in Twitter, and December. “My SpaceX shares alone would have meant that funding was secured,” Musk said of the 2018 tweets. Even before Musk first took the stand on Friday, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen had declared that jurors can consider those two tweets to be false, leaving them to decide whether Musk deliberately deceived investors and whether his statements saddled them with losses. Musk has previously contended he entered into the Securities and Exchange Commission settlement under duress and maintained he believed he had locked up financial backing for a Tesla buyout during meetings with representatives from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Read more: Elon Musk sells $3.58B worth of Tesla stock, purpose unknown At a July 31, 2018 meeting, the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s Yasir Al-Rumayyan “confirmed unequivocally that they would support Tesla going private. That was part of what ‘funding secure’ meant,” Musk said Monday. “But in addition there was SpaceX stock, which could also be used.” In the first of the 2018 tweets, Musk stated “funding secured” for what would have been a $72 billion — or $420 per share — buyout of Tesla at a time when the electric automaker was still grappling with production problems and was worth far less than it is now. Musk followed up a few hours later with another tweet suggesting a deal was imminent. Nicholas Porritt, a lawyer representing Tesla shareholders, asked Musk if he “went with 420 because it was a joke your girlfriend enjoys.” Musk replied he thinks there is “some karma” around the number 420 — which is also a slang reference to marijuana — although he added he doesn't know “if it's good karma or bad karma at this point.” He then said the number was a "coincidence" and it represented a 20% premium of Tesla's share price at the time. After it became apparent that the money wasn’t in place to take Tesla private, Musk stepped down as Tesla’s chairman while remaining CEO as part of the SEC settlement, without acknowledging wrongdoing. On Friday, Musk had testified he thinks it is possible to be “absolutely truthful” on Twitter. "But can you be comprehensive? Of course not.” On Monday, he again emphasized: “My tweet was truthful, absolutely truthful." Asked by his lawyer, Alex Spiro, if he understood the charges against him, Musk said he's being "accused of fraud. It’s outrageous.” Shares of Tesla climbed $8.76. or 6.6%, to $142.18 on Monday. He said he never deceived investors.

Elon Musk took the witness stand Friday to defend a 2018 tweet claiming he had lined up the financing to take Tesla private in a deal that never came close to happening. The tweet resulted in a $40 million settlement with securities regulators. It also led to a class-action lawsuit alleging he misled investors, pulling him into court for about a half hour Friday to deliver sworn testimony in front of a nine-person jury and a full room of media and other spectators. The trial was then adjourned for the weekend and Musk was told to return Monday to answer more questions. In his initial appearance on the stand, Musk defended his prolific tweeting as “the most democratic way” to distribute information even while acknowledging constraints of Twitter's 280-character limit can make it difficult to make everything as clear as possible. “I think you can absolutely be truthful (on Twitter),” Musk asserted on the stand. “But can you be comprehensive? Of course not,” Musk's latest headache stems from the inherent brevity on Twitter, a service that he has been running since completing his $44 billion purchase of it in October. The trial hinges on the question of whether a pair of tweets that Musk posted on Aug. 7, 2018, damaged Tesla shareholders during a 10-day period leading up to a Musk admission that the buyout he had envisioned wasn’t going to happen. In the first of those those two 2018 tweets, Musk stated “funding secured” for a what would have been a $72 billion buyout of Tesla at a time when the electric automaker was still grapping with production problems and was worth far less than it is now. Musk followed up a few hours later with another tweet suggesting a deal was imminent. After it became apparent that the money wasn't in place to take Tesla private, Musk stepped down as Tesla’s chairman while remaining CEO as part of the Securities and Exchange Commission settlement, without acknowledging any wrongdoing. The impulsive billionaire came into court wearing a dark suit and tie on the third day of the civil trial in San Francisco that his lawyer unsuccessfully tried to move to Texas, where Tesla is now headquartered, on the premise that media coverage of his tumultuous takeover of Twitter had tainted the jury pool. Read more: Elon Musk depicted as liar, visionary in Tesla tweet trial The jury that was assembled earlier this week focused intently on Musk while he answered questions posed by Nicholas Porritt, a lawyer representing Tesla shareholders. At one point, Musk asked Porritt if he would speak closer to the microphone so he could hear him better. At other times, Musk craned his neck as he gazed around the courtroom. Musk, 51, said he cares “a great deal” about investors and also railed against short sellers who make investments that reward them when a company's stock price falls. He called short selling an “evil” practice that should be outlawed, denigrating those who profit from it as “a bunch of sharks." When shown communications from Tesla investors urging him to curtail or completely stop his Twitter habit before the 2018 buyout tweet, Musk said he couldn't remember all those interactions from years ago, especially since he gets a “Niagara Falls" of emails. Even before Musk took the stand, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen had declared that the jurors can consider those two tweets to be false, leaving them to decide whether Musk deliberately deceived investors and whether his statements saddled them with losses. Musk has previously contended he entered into the SEC settlement under duress and maintained he believed he had locked up financial backing for a Tesla buyout during meetings with representatives from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. An expert on corporate buyouts hired by shareholder lawyers to study the events surrounding Musk's proposal to take Tesla private spent the bulk of his three hours on the stand Friday deriding the plan as an ill-conceived concept. “This proposal was an extreme outlier,” said Guhan Subramanian, a Harvard University business and law professor for more than 20 years. “It was incoherent. It was illusory.” In a lengthy cross examination that delayed Musk's appearance, a lawyer for Tesla's board of directors tried to undermine Subramanian's testimony by pointing out that it relied on graduate student assistance to review some of the material related to the August 2018 tweets. The lawyer, William Price, also noted Subramanian's $1,900-per-hour fee for compiling his report for the case. The trial over his Tesla tweets come at a time when Musk has been focusing on Twitter while also serving as the automaker's CEO and also remaining deeply involved in SpaceX, the rocket ship company he founded. Read more: Elon Musk takes over Twitter: what to expect? Musk’s leadership of Twitter — where he has gutted the staff and alienated users and advertisers — has proven unpopular among Tesla’s current stockholders, who are worried he has been devoting less time steering the automaker at a time of intensifying competition. Those concerns contributed to a 65% decline in Tesla’s stock last year that wiped out more than $700 billion in shareholder wealth — far more than the $14 billion swing in fortune that occurred between the company’s high and low stock prices during the Aug. 7-17, 2018 period covered in the class-action lawsuit. Tesla’s stock has split twice since then, making the $420 buyout price cited in his 2018 tweet worth $28 on adjusted basis now. The company's shares were trading around $133.42 Friday, down from the company’s November 2021 split-adjusted peak of $414.50. After Musk dropped the idea of a Tesla buyout, the company overcame its production problems, resulting in a rapid upturn in car sales that caused its stock to soar and minted Musk as the world’s richest person until he bought Twitter. Musk dropped from the top spot on the wealth list after the stock market’s backlash to his handling of Twitter. When asked Friday about the challenges that Tesla faced in 2018, he recalled spending many nights sleeping at the automaker's California factory as he tried to keep the company afloat. “The sheer level of pain to make Tesla successful during that 2017, 2018 period was excruciating," he recalled.