Despite Elon Musk sending even stronger signals that he will not purchase Twitter, backing out of the deal with the social media company will not be that easy. While there’s been considerable talk about the $1 billion “breakup fee” that Musk would have to pay for nuking the deal, analysts have said that Twitter has a compelling legal standing to force Musk to complete the purchase. According to a new statement from the Twitter board, that appears to be the next step.
Hours after Musk tweeted that the “deal cannot move forward” after claiming Twitter misrepresented its bot problem, the board issued a stern statement that it wants to close the deal “as promptly as practicable.” Via CNN:
The board, in other words, wants to rid itself of Twitter. I obtained a new statement from the board Tuesday night that read, “The Board and Mr. Musk agreed to a transaction at $54.20 per share. We believe this agreement is in the best interest of all shareholders. We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement.” Key words: “Enforce the merger agreement.” Legal action seems likely.
As CNN’s Brian Stetler writes, there is still a chance that Musk could pay to make the deal go away, which would leave the Twitter board scrambling to find another buyer. One “white knight” savior could be Microsoft, according to TechDirt.
In the meantime, Stetler’s column wants to make it clear that Musk’s claims about bots aren’t fooling anybody. The CNN reporter notes a recent article from Bloomberg that flat-out says Musk is “lying.” The Tesla CEO apparently cited bots as his reason for purchasing the company in the first place, and now, he’s surprised that they exist? C’mon.
(Via CNN)