On Monday, a federal judge ruled that Elon Musk will have to testify in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into whether or not Musk committed securities fraud when he acquired shares of Twitter (now X) before of social media takeover. platform.
Although the judge’s decision comes after a series of lawsuits between the billionaire and the regulatory agency, O’Leary Ventures president and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary says the landmark ruling could change everything for businesses.
Related: Kevin O’Leary issues strong warning about real estate
Appearing on FOX Business’ “The Big Money Show.” O’Leary was asked whether companies should be incorporated in states other than Delaware, where more than 60% of Fortune 500 companies – including Alphabet, Amazon and CVS – are formed thanks to lenient tax policies. (Companies registered in the state that do not do business there do not have to pay corporate income taxes.)
“Absolutely, this has changed everything as far as I’m concerned,” O’Leary said. “The traditional place to incorporate a corporation has always been Delaware because of the stable politics, we have never had cases like this that called into question the will of directors or the compensation of audit committees.”
The “Shark Tank” star then explained how the ruling moves Delaware “from the winner state column to the loser state column,” characterizing other states — New York, New Jersey, Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts and California — as “states losers.” .”
O’Leary characterizes these states as those where business policies “are very unstable” due to high startup taxes and complicated (and high) corporate and state taxes, among other policies. O’Leary also reiterated that he is shocked that Musk is being investigated by the SEC since Twitter was incorporated in Delaware.
“I assume the Supreme Court is going to overturn this decision as soon as possible because everyone is looking at this and wondering ‘What was that?’ It just happened out of nowhere,” she said.
Although he defended Musk’s business practices during Monday’s sentencing, O’Leary has clashed with the billionaire over company policies in the past.
Related: Kevin O’Leary Criticizes Bitcoin Spot ETF Fees, Says Not to Buy
Last summer, O’Leary ripped Musk’s decision to bring back Tesla and X employees.
“The economy has changed dramatically. The problem with saying everyone has to work in an office is that you’re not going to be able to hire the best talent,” O’Leary said during an episode of FOX’s “Outnumbered” in June.
O’Leary’s estimated net worth as of Friday morning was $400 million.