Elon Musk has revealed that he does not enjoy being the boss of Tesla.
“I rather hate it and I would much prefer to spend my time on design and engineering,” he told a US court.
Tesla’s billionaire founder was speaking at the start of a trial where he is accused of pressuring the firm’s board members into a $2.6bn (£1.9bn) deal to buy a solar panel firm.
Shareholders claim the carmaker’s money was wasted on buying SolarCity, which – they say – was running out of money.
At the time of the deal, Mr Musk owned a 22% stake in both Tesla and the solar panel company, which was founded by his cousins.
“Since it was a stock-for-stock transaction and I owned almost exactly the same percentage of both there was no financial gain,” he said.
He also denied exerting pressure on board members, saying that the deal was part of a “master plan” to create affordable vehicles with green power supplies.
Shareholders bringing the case against Mr Musk, who is worth $168bn according to Forbes, have asked the court that he repay Tesla the $2.6bn in full. That would be one of the largest ever judgements against an individual.
Last year, other board members at Tesla settled a lawsuit over the deal for $60m. Those board members, who excluded Mr Musk, did not admit any wrongdoing.
