*By Carlo Versano* Shares of Tesla jumped more than 15 percent in the pre-market Monday on news that CEO Elon Musk settled a lawsuit with the SEC over Musk's social media use. Under the terms of the settlement, Musk will step down as chairman of Tesla ($TSLA) for at least three years but can remain in the chief executive role. He and the company must each pay $20 million in fines. Two independent board members will also be appointed. Federal regulators sued Musk last week, arguing that his infamous Aug. 7 "funding secured" tweet amounted to securities fraud. The lawsuit was filed after Musk reportedly scuttled a last-minute deal with the agency under which he would resign as chairman and pay a fine but not admit to any wrongdoing. Talks restarted soon after, and by Saturday a new settlement was in place. The settlement takes care of one major headache for investors, who will now look to the car maker's third-quarter production and delivery numbers, which may be reported as early as Monday. Musk [reportedly] (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/30/elon-musk-tells-tesla-to-ignore-distractions-hints-at-profitability.html) emailed employees over the weekend, telling them to "ignore all distractions" and that the company was approaching profitability.

Share:
More In Technology
Sen. Josh Hawley’s Internet Censorship Bill Attacked From All Sides
Sen. Josh Hawley’s bill to hold major tech companies responsible for content published on their platforms is finding no love. The legislation, which is aimed to punishing tech companies for their supposed censorship of conservative voices, is being criticized by free speech advocates for potentially increasing censorship and by politicians from both sides of the aisle who view the bill as gross example of government overreach.
Slack Shares Pop as Messaging Platform Goes Public
Slack made its market debut Thursday with shares trading at $38.50, way up from the $26 a piece reference price set by the New York Stock Exchange. The opening price gives the workplace message platform a valuation of over $23 billion.
With Libra, Facebook Wants to Be the Bank of the Future
Facebook announced a new financial system that will be based on a digital token called Libra managed by an independent non-profit consortium, which is currently comprised of companies like Uber, Spotify, Visa, and MasterCard.
Load More