Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk

WASHINGTON: The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Saturday carmaker Tesla and Chief Executive Elon Musk had agreed to pay $20 million each under a settlement that will also see the billionaire step down as chairman after a tumultuous two months for the company. But Musk, who is synonymous with the Tesla brand, will remain as chief executive under the settlement over tweets he posted on Aug. 7 about taking the company private, the SEC said. The SEC alleged in a lawsuit on Thursday that the tweets about…

Investors on Monday will render their verdict on Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk’s decision to abandon a proposed $72 billion buyout to take the luxury electric car maker private. Musk said in a blog post late on Friday that his decision to scuttle the proposed deal was motivated in part by existing Tesla shareholders who said they wanted the company to remain publicly-traded. The trading on Monday will be a test of how investors are taking the demise of the buyout plan, and their views on whether Musk, who owns about a…