Twitter shareholders sued Elon Musk and Twitter themselves, claiming that Musk manipulated Twitter's stock price in order to lower its value during his $44 billion (EUR40billion) takeover bid.

Investors claimed that Tesla CEO, John Tesla, saved $156 million (EUR145million) by not disclosing that he purchased more than 5% of Twitter before March 14. They requested to be classified as a class, and to receive an unspecified amount in punitive or compensatory damages.

They also named Twitter as a defendant. This was because they argued that Musk's conduct had to be investigated by the company, but are not seeking damages.

According to the lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Francisco federal Court, Musk claimed that he continued to buy stock.

Musk delayed his disclosure of his Twitter stake and bought Twitter stock at a artificially low price," stated the investors led by William Heresniak, a Virginia resident.

Musk and his lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Twitter declined to comment.

Investors stated that Musk's recent stock drop has made it difficult to finance his purchase of Twitter. Musk has pledged his shares to be collateral for the loans needed to buy the company.