Tesla raises spending plan, reveals new subpoena on Musk’s 2018 tweet

July 25 (Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Its capital spending plan has increased by $1 billion, the electric car maker said in a regulatory filing Monday, which also revealed a second subpoena related to CEO Elon Musk’s tweets in 2018.

The company now expects to spend between $6 billion and $8 billion this year and each of the next two years, up from its previous $5 billion spending plan to $7 billion, as it looks to ramp up production at its new facilities in Texas and Berlin. .

Musk said last month that factories were “losing billions of dollars” as they struggle to increase production due to battery shortages and Chinese port issues. Read more

Meanwhile, the latest subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), on June 13, sought information about compliance with Musk’s settlement with the regulator in 2018.

Musk has settled a lawsuit by the Securities and Exchange Commission over his tweets agreeing to allow the company’s lawyers to pre-approval tweets containing material information about the company. Read more

The company said it would cooperate with government authorities. The Securities and Exchange Commission declined to comment. The regulator first summoned Tesla in November over the settlement.

The world’s richest person, who calls himself a “free speech absolute,” said in March that his “securing funding” tweet was honest, likening himself to rapper Eminem as he sought to ditch his 2018 deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In June, he also appealed a judge’s refusal to terminate the agreement. Read more

The latest subpoena comes as Musk prepares for a legal showdown in October with Twitter for dropping its $44 billion bid to buy the social media company. Read more

In June, the regulator questioned Musk about a tweet that raised doubts about his takeover of Twitter over concerns about the number of fake users and spam accounts. Read more

Separately, Tesla’s filing said it converted about 75% of its bitcoin holdings into fiat currency, generating $64 million in the process, while posting a $170 million impairment fee in the first six months of 2022.

It said in the filing that as of June 30, the fair market value of its digital assets was $222 million. (https://bit.ly/3S1k4Bq)

Report from Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Aaron Coeur

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