Last Updated on 2 years by sonnysuman
San Francisco, July 9 (AP) Elon Musk\’s $44 billion bid to buy Twitter is on the verge of collapse after Tesla\’s CEO sent a letter Friday to Twitter\’s board of directors.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a message for comment. It\’s not entirely clear whether Twitter\’s board will accept the $1 billion divorce fee or whether the deal will be sued.
The final closing of the deal is the latest twist in the saga between the world\’s richest man and one of the most influential social media platforms. Much of the drama played out on Twitter, where Musk, who has more than 95 million followers, lamented the company\’s failure to fulfill its potential as a platform for free speech.
On Friday, Twitter\’s shares fell 5% to 36.81, far less than the 54.20 that Musk offered to pay. Meanwhile, Tesla shares rose 2.5% to 752.29.
In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk said that Twitter had failed to meet its contractual obligations related to the deal, namely, that it asked Musk to independently assess the spread of fake or spam accounts on the Twitter platform. Not provided enough information.
Musk\’s flirting with Twitter purchases seems to have started in late March. That\’s when Twitter said it contacted board members, including co-founder Jack Dorsey, and told them it was buying shares in the company and was interested in joining the board, shutting down Twitter, or creating a competitor. Then, on April 4, he disclosed in a report to regulators that he had become the company\’s largest shareholder after acquiring a 9% stake for about $3 billion.
Twitter first offered Musk a seat on its board of directors. But six days later, Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal tweeted that Musk would not be on the board after all. His bid to buy the company was quickly accepted thereafter.
Musk agreed to buy Twitter at 54.20 per share, including a reference to 420 marijuana in his offer price. He sold about $8.5 billion worth of Tesla shares to help with the purchase and then raised his commitments to more than $7 billion from a diverse group of investors, including big Silicon Valley players like Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. .
Inside Twitter, Musk\’s proposal was met with confusion and low morale, especially after Musk publicly criticized one of Twitter\’s top lawyers involved in content moderation decisions.
As Twitter executives prepared to pursue the deal, the company struck a hiring moratorium, ended discretionary spending and fired two top executives. The San Francisco-based company is also laying off employees, most recently part of its talent scouting team.