The Musk Twitter drama is approaching
The Canadian Press – May 25, 2022 / 10:44 | History: 369896
Photo: The Canadian Press
Twitter’s regular shareholders’ meeting scheduled for Wednesday will not include a vote on the $ 44 billion bid by Tesla billionaire Elon Musk for the social platform.
This vote will take place in the future on a date yet to be determined.
But the drama surrounding his offer, almost entirely created by Musk himself, could collapse into today’s acts anyway.
Musk had promised that taking over Twitter would allow him to undo the social media platform of his annoying “spam bots.” But he has been arguing, without presenting any evidence, that there could be too many automated accounts for the deal to go ahead.
The sudden change of the richest man in the world makes little sense, except as a tactic to sink or renegotiate a deal that is becoming more and more costly for him, experts said last week. The fact that everything unfolds publicly, on Twitter, no less, only adds to the chaos that has played a pivotal role in Musk’s bid, even before he did.
In early May, the mercurial billionaire tweeted that the deal was “pending” because he wanted to identify the number of spam and fake accounts on the social media platform after claiming that Twitter’s own estimate is too low.
Experts say Musk cannot unilaterally suspend the deal, though that has not stopped him from acting as if he can. If he leaves, he could be hit by a $ 1 billion separation fee. Alternatively, Twitter could sue Musk for forcing him to continue with the deal, though experts think it’s very unlikely.
Twitter shares rose 94 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $ 36.70 on Wednesday morning. Musk’s bid is $ 54.20 per share.