Daily US Times: Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla, has revealed that he does not enjoy being the boss of the company.

Tesla’s billionaire founder told a US court: “I rather hate it and I would much prefer to spend my time on design and engineering.”

He was speaking at the start of a trial where he is accused of pressuring the firm’s board members into a $2.6bn deal to buy a solar panel firm.

Shareholders claim the company’s money was wasted on buying SolarCity, which – they say – was running out of money.

At the time of the deal, Elon Musk owned a 22% stake in both Tesla and SolarCity, which was founded by his cousins.

Mr Musk said: “Since it was a stock-for-stock transaction and I owned almost exactly the same percentage of both there was no financial gain.”

He also denied exerting pressure on board members, adding that the deal was part of a “master plan” to create affordable vehicles with green power supplies.

Shareholders bringing the case against the tech entreprenure 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.

Mr Musk is worth $168bn, according to Forbes.

Other board members at Tesla settled a lawsuit over the deal for $60m last year. Those board members, who excluded Mr Musk, didn’t admit any wrongdoing.

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