Growing concerns Elon Musk will walk away from Twitter deal after latest letter

Elon Musk’s bid to acquire Twitter is as shaky as ever amid reports Tuesday that the takeover bid has been put on hold “over concerns about his ability to arrange new financing that would limit his cash contribution to the $44 billion acquisition.”

That’s according to Fox Business, which noted Musk’s threats to walk away from the deal to purchase Twitter. The billionaire founder of SpaceX and Tesla has vowed to back out of his deal, saying that the company is “resisting and thwarting” his legitimate right to acquire more information about the proportion of fake and spam accounts on the platform.

“In a letter to Twitter on Monday, Musk’s lawyers wrote they have repeatedly asked for the information since May 9, about a month after his offer to buy the company, so he could evaluate how many of the company’s 229 million accounts are fake,” Fox Business reported. “Musk has long been fixated on Twitter’s bot problem as a reflection of the platform’s true value. He has more than 97 million followers.”

Reuters reported that Musk is on the hook to pay $33.5 billion to fund the deal and that his “liquidity is limited given that his wealth, which is pegged by Forbes at $218 billion, is largely tied to the shares of Tesla Inc, the electric car maker he leads.”

He has been in discussions to arrange $2 billion to $3 billion on preferred equity financing from a group of private equity firms to reduce his cash contribution, but the news agency cited sources to say those talks are now on hold until there is better clarity about what’s going to happen.

There are growing concerns from those who value uncensored free speech that Musk may abandon his quest to acquire Twitter:

As for Musk, other than an interesting take on Little Red Riding Hood, he was somewhat quiet Tuesday on Twitter, given his propensity for tweeting. He did take a couple of shots at YouTube on Tuesday, including this offering:

Oh, and he responded to this suggestive meme…

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1534306727402819586?s=20&t=_xMitzF7aQiXDNMqi2x1nQ

Tom Tillison

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles