“It looks like Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter again. But will he go all the way this time? ”wonders Mashable.
It is by a pithy letter to the leaders of Twitter, communicated Tuesday to the SEC – the American stock market policeman – that Elon Musk announced his wish to buy Twitter, provided that the courts “immediately stay the ‘Twitter v. Musk’ lawsuit, and cancel the lawsuit and all other proceedings”reports TechCrunch. “In other words, Musk is ready to close, if he can escape trial”.
Twitter had decided to drag Elon Musk to court, after the billionaire’s decision to abandon the takeover of the social network, announced last April for 44 billion dollars – or 54.20 dollars per share. The Tesla boss claimed that Twitter lied about the exact number of fake accounts among its users. The opening of the trial was set for October 17.
“Predictable outcome”
For the Washingon Postthis new about-face suggests that Elon Musk “realized that he was in a more fragile situation than expected, with the approach of the trial and his testimony”. The preliminary hearings highlighted the weakness of the Musk camp’s arguments and the risk for the billionaire of being forced to buy out or having to pay a colossal fine.
“The strangest thing, finally, is that this outcome was the most predictable”declares to the site The Verge Ann Lipton, professor of business law at Tulane University. “This kind of case is always settled before the trial and before the testimony of the principal concerned”she observes. “The only surprising element is that it failed to lower the initial price”.
Twitter confirmed to have received the mail from Elon Musk and “fully intends to complete the transaction at the price per share proposed by Musk’s team” in April, underlines the Washington Post. “The company plans to accept the offer, but is awaiting confirmation that the judge will be able to oversee the process”car “mistrust is in order”adds the daily.
Return of Trump
Fact, “until Musk’s money is physically in Twitter’s shareholder account, it’s nearly impossible to categorically dismiss” the fact that the billionaire can “play it both ways”warns Slate. The boss of Tesla “changes his mind like his shirt and is used to making fanciful decisions, even with billions of dollars at stake”.
The blue bird firm “can still decide to refuse the offer, if she thinks that[Elon Musk] is not serious”and pursue its legal action, notes Mashable. “But if the deal is done”the billionaire “could own Twitter as soon as the end of the month” of October.
This will make at least one happy: the “twitterer-in-chief” Donald Trump, selon Politico. “Musk has made it clear that he would like to see the platform operate with fewer restrictions on what users can say, and that he would reinstate Trump”whose account had been permanently closed after the assault on the Capitol. “The former president could thus regain his right to twitter, just before the mid-term elections of 2022 and the presidential election of 2024”.