Can you believe it’s been nearly six months since Elon Musk made the offer to completely buy out Twitter? We can. And that’s because we’ve had a non-stop torrent of news concerning Elon Musk’s pullout game. Finally, the story has come to a head – with Musk agreeing to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share (again).
Please make a u-turn here
Yesterday, Musk’s representatives sent a letter to Twitter confirming their boss’s intent to get the deal over the finish line. “We write to notify you that the Musk Parties intend to proceed to closing of the transaction contemplated by the April 25, 2022 Merger Agreement, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein,” reads the letter, which was simultaneously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Twitter issued this statement about today’s news: We received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC. The intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share.
— Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR) October 4, 2022
Musk did include one stipulation in the “new” offer. Per the letter, Musk intends to move forward with the purchase “provided that the Delaware Chancery Court enter an immediate stay of the action, Twitter vs. Musk, et al. and adjourn the trial and all other proceedings.” This essentially means Musk wants the entire lawsuit against him dropped.
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Nobody but Musk could explain his reasoning for his sudden u-turn in the deal. It seems likely that Musk was worried about losing the Musk vs Twitter lawsuit, which was set to take place later this month on 17 October. “He was about to get deposed and a lot of uncomfortable facts were going to come out,” said a professor at Columbia Law School, Eric Talley.
What’s under the Musk rug?
Just a few days ago, personal texts between Musk and plenty of other famous names connected with the deal were published in court. The texts show how the relationship between Musk and Twitter head Parag Agrawal deteriorated soon after Musk tweeted this:
Most of these “top” accounts tweet rarely and post very little content.
Is Twitter dying? https://t.co/lj9rRXfDHE
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2022
Since then, Musk has been looking for a way out of the deal. He claimed that around 20% of Twitter’s user base consists of bots or spam accounts. Musk felt that this was enough to halt the deal, or negotiate a better price. Twitter’s response was that only 5% of monetizable accounts weren’t human-owned.
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The final twist in the tale appeared in the late hours of yesterday. Musk tweeted that his purchase of Twitter would be an “accelerant” to an entirely different project.
The project? “X, the everything app”. This is Musk’s alleged reason for his purchase of the Blue Bird app. Whether this is true or not, is moot. The purchase is going through, and Musk isn’t being sued by Twitter anymore. We’ll never know what the trial would have unearthed about Elon Musk.
Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 4, 2022
Source: Reuters