The Latest in the Musk & Twitter Saga

About twenty minutes after the first batch of DONUTs were delivered Friday morning, Elon Musk tweeted that his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter was on hold “pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.”

He followed that up two hours later with another tweet saying he was “still committed to acquisition,” adding more intrigue to a saga with seemingly more twists than an M. Night Shyamalan movie.

🤿 A deeper dive… The securities filing for the merger stipulates that if Musk were to end the deal or fail to deliver the acquisition funding as promised, he would have to pay a $1 billion breakup fee. But he can’t exactly just pay it and walk away.

• Musk would have to prove that the stated bot count of 5% is inaccurate and has what’s known as a material adverse effect (MAE) on Twitter’s business.
• An MAE-affirmative ruling has only occurred once in Delaware, where the social media company is incorporated.

👀 Looking ahead… ​​From Twitter’s CEO Parag Agarwal: “While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what’s right for Twitter.”

+In the know: Take a deeper look at Musk’s financing situation surrounding the deal and why he’s reportedly trying to further reduce his personal exposure, notorious short-seller Hindenburg Research’s report about its significant risks, or the legal issues Musk faces pertaining to this situation.