The relationship between Twitter and Elon Musk has eroded to the point where it now appears the next step is going to be in civil court. After Elon Musk made it clear that he was backing out of his deal to buy Twitter, the social media site threatened legal action.
The threat of a lawsuit is just the latest twist in what has been a rather interesting saga between Elon Musk and Twitter. When he first announced he wanted to purchase the platform, there were more than a few people that objected to the impending deal. Most of those objections were based on worries that the Tesla owner would change the way the site operated and not for the better. However, at the moment, those concerns appear to be things of the past.
Less than an hour after Musk filed his intent to back out of the deal, Twitter responded that it was "committed to closing the transaction," at the agreed-upon sale price per share. Twitter said that it would take the billionaire to the Delaware Court of Chancery in order to make sure that the deal the two sides had agreed upon would, in fact, be finalized.
It's certainly interesting that the social media site's higher-ups are now proclaiming that they will do everything they can in order to force Elon Musk to take ownership. When he first announced his intention to offer a stock share price that would be too hard to say no to, there was talk that Twitter might force a poison pill that would kill any potential deal. It seems that the money Musk was offering was indeed lucrative enough that even if there were concerns about the Tesla CEO taking over the company, it wasn't enough to overcome the potential money.
There is a way out of this deal for both sides. When the original purchase agreement of Twitter was signed, a $1 billion termination fee was included in the deal. That provision was put in place just in case Musk couldn't raise the money to follow through on his end of the deal. So far he actually hasn't managed to come up with the cash, at least to public knowledge. Twitter also has the ability to pay the termination fee if it got a better offer or if the board advised that stockholders should vote against the offer.
Just what the next steps in this back and forth between Musk and Twitter will be is currently unknown. It stands to reason the legal fight is just beginning.
Source: The Verge