After all the bot disputes… the whistleblowing… the texts to Joe Rogan… the poop emoji… it looks like Elon Musk is going to end up buying Twitter after all.
What happened: Twitter (+22.24%) accepted Musk’s offer to buy the company at the originally agreed-upon price of $54.20 a share ($44 billion), pending financing, per Bloomberg.
- After a change of heart, Twitter sued Musk for trying to back away from the deal earlier this year, and Musk countersued, saying he was misled about fake accounts.
- It’s possible that after suffering pre-trial procedural losses (and reading Matt Levine) Musk realized there was a good chance the costly suit wouldn't end in his favour
Why it matters: Musk originally sold a vision of cleaning out Twitter bots and preserving the platform as a venue for free speech (as platforms like Donald Trump’s Truth Social gained speed), but his impulsive behaviour leaves investors in doubt over his next move.
What’s next: There are still questions about where all the money will end up coming from, but Musk is now on the hook for over $33 billion in equity financing, as is a group of Wall Street banks that committed to a $12.5 billion debt financing package back in April.