From the Poynter Report with Tom Jones:
What in the heck is going on with Twitter and Elon Musk?
The on-again, off-again sale of Twitter to Musk appeared to be back on again earlier this week when Musk said he would buy the company for the originally agreed-upon price of $54.20 a share, or $44 billion. But on Thursday, it seemed to be off again for a bit and then back on and now … who the heck knows?
Musk’s lawyers said Thursday that Twitter is refusing to accept the deal and wanted Delaware court to postpone a trial set to begin later this month. Twitter is suing Musk for backing out of the deal he agreed to in April.
So let’s get this straight. Musk agreed to buy Twitter. Musk backed out. Twitter sued. Musk then agreed to the original deal, but now Twitter won’t accept it?
Confused?
Then came word Thursday evening that the trial will indeed be delayed to give Musk more time to line up his financing.
The Wall Street Journal’s Cara Lombardo and Alexa Corse wrote, “The surprise ruling, granting a request by Mr. Musk, effectively ends negotiations for a settlement that would allow the parties to quickly close the deal. Mr. Musk now has until Oct. 28 to do so. Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick said if the deal doesn’t close by that date, the parties should contact her to schedule a November trial.”
Lombardo and Corse added, “Late Thursday, the dispute spilled into public view with Mr. Musk’s filing, which said he expected to have the financing in place to close the deal around Oct. 28. Twitter responded by calling his request an ‘invitation to further mischief and delay.’ Mr. Musk in his filing said the financing banks are working to fund the deal so it can close. He argued that proceeding with the litigation for now, as Twitter prefers, could keep the deal in limbo longer.”
CNN’s Clare Duffy wrote, “The back-and-forth offers the clearest indication yet that Musk’s financing may now be the central issue in the dispute between the Tesla CEO and Twitter over halting the legal proceedings and completing the deal. Musk has previously said he would pay for the acquisition through a mix of debt commitments from financial institutions, equity financing from investors and his own assets. But legal experts have raised concerns that debt financiers may now want to pull out of the deal in light of recent changes to the debt market and declines in value of social media companies. Twitter, according to experts, would likely want to maintain the litigation as pressure on Musk unless he agrees to close the deal with or without the debt financing.”
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