Elon Musk claims he had backing to buy Tesla

Elon Musk has told a court that he believed he had enough backing to take Tesla private at the time he issued a controversial tweet.

The boss of the electric car company is on trial after investors claimed the 2018 tweet cost them millions of dollars when a deal did not go ahead.

Mr Musk claims that he had met with a Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund who indicated they would support a deal.

He added he would have sold his stake in rocket firm SpaceX to raise money.

Mr Musk is accused of defrauding investors after he tweeted on 7 August 2018 that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private at $420 per share, and that "investor support is confirmed".