Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, May 09, 2025

Elon Musk's Twitter deal - what's going on, how did we get here and what happens next?

Elon Musk's Twitter deal - what's going on, how did we get here and what happens next?

By 28 October, next Friday, Elon Musk will either own Twitter or be going to trial to attempt to force him to buy a company that he willingly made an offer for.

Elon Musk's prospective Twitter takeover has become a saga befitting of a football transfer window, with months of back-and-forth drama inevitably destined to form the basis of a tell-all book.

Now finally, half a year since the world's richest man offered to buy the social media company, Mr Musk appears close to going through with the deal.

By 28 October, next Friday, he will either close his takeover or be going to trial in a bid to force him to.

How on earth did we get here?


It started back in April, a whirlwind month that began with the self-confessed Twitter addict getting a seat on the board after becoming the firm's single biggest shareholder.

Shares in the platform surged after it was revealed he had bought a 9.2% stake worth almost $3bn, and he wasted little time in making suggestions - including an edit button and changes to the Twitter Blue subscription service.

Within a fortnight, Mr Musk had offered to buy Twitter outright, saying it was needed to uphold free speech.

"Since making my investment, I now realise the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form," he said in a letter to Bret Taylor, the Twitter chairman.

"Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company."

An agreement was quickly reached, and Musk appeared serious, seemingly moving to finance the deal by selling millions of Tesla shares.

But by the middle of May, Mr Musk said the deal was "temporarily on hold".

He was not happy about the apparently unacceptable number of bots on Twitter, and - appearing far less serious - sent a poop emoji to Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal when he questioned Mr Musk's assertions about fake accounts.

In June Mr Musk formally threatened to terminate the deal over "spam and fake accounts", and - despite Twitter promising to provide him with raw data to allay his concerns - he pulled the plug a month later.

Twitter's Parag Agrawal defended the firm's record on bots.


What's going on now?


The predicament was born from Twitter's decision to sue Mr Musk for cancelling the deal.

The chair of Twitter's board, Mr Taylor, tweeted that a lawsuit had been filed in Delaware, where the company is incorporated, "to hold Elon Musk accountable to his contractual obligations".

Despite the legal action, Mr Musk seemed determined to get out of the deal and subpoenaed a Twitter whistleblower who claimed the company misled federal regulators about its security risks.

A court document revealed that he also issued a subpoena to his friend Jack Dorsey, the former Twitter boss.

It was all with a view to the lawsuit going to trial in Delaware on 17 October - and then everything changed. Again.

Less than two weeks before the case was due to begin, Mr Musk proposed to go ahead with buying Twitter at $54.20 a share - a total value of $44bn (£38.4bn).

Just when we thought we were out, he pulled us back in.

Twitter shareholders and lawyers - once bitten, twice shy and all that - have seemed understandably dubious, and a Delaware judge pushed the trial date to give Mr Musk time to get his finances in order.

His deadline is 28 October.

Jack Dorsey was to be subpoenaed if the case went to trial


And what happens next?


Who knows?!

But seriously, this time Mr Musk appears to be genuine about going through with the deal - and the fast-approaching deadline means it could be announced any day now.

If, for any reason, the deadline was missed, it would lead to a trial in November.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
Transformative Changes in Women's Wrestling: The Rise of WWE Superstars
The Rush to the White Gold: Global Investment Surge in Natural Hydrogen Exploration
This is a day in Spain without electricity and internet
Reform UK Surprises in British Elections, Challenging Traditional Two-Party System
180-Year-Old Christian University in South Carolina Announces Closure Due to Unmet $6 Million Fundraising Goal
Brazilian Woman Jailed for Fourteen Years for Writing “You Lost, Idiot” on Statue During Protest
Trump Administration Removes National Security Adviser Mike Waltz Amid Signal Chat Controversy
Dutch Politician Eva Vlaardingerbroek Receives Spyware Threat Alert from Apple
Paramount Board Considers Settlement in Trump’s $20 Billion Lawsuit Over "60 Minutes" Interview
U.S. Economy Shrink in Trump’s First Quarter as Tariff Policy Raises Questions
Deadline Looms for RTS Meter Replacement: Hundreds of Thousands at Risk of Heating Disruption
Sweden Grapples with Deadly Gun Violence: Suspect Arrested After Three Young Men Killed in Uppsala Hair Salon
Walz Reveals Why Harris Chose Him as Her Running Mate and Reflects on Democratic Losses
Spain Restores Power After Unprecedented Nationwide Blackout
Carney Secures Liberal Mandate in Canada’s Federal Election
Death Penalty Sought as Luigi Manion Pleads Not Guilty in CEO Murder Case
President Trump contacts Jeff Bezos after reports of Amazon considering listing tariff surcharges; company clarifies no such plan for main platform
Spain and Portugal Recover from Massive Blackout
Liverpool Clinches Record-Equalling 20th English League Title Under Arne Slot
Singapore Politicians Warn Against Foreign Interference in Election
Driver Ploughs into Vancouver Festival Crowd, Killing Nine
Depression, Fear of Defamation, and a Tragic End: New Details on Virginia Giuffre’s Suicide
“Sharia for UK, Allah Akbar!”
Massive Explosion at Iran's Bandar Abbas Port Linked to Suspicious Chemical Shipments
Incident Reflection: A Harsh Reality Check
Pakistani migrants to Danish man: “ “We have 5 children while you have 1 or 2. In 10 years, there will be more Pakistanis than Danes here.“
Clashes Erupt in London as Tensions Rise Between Indian and Pakistani Communities
Specialized anti-drone weapons deployed among security personnel Ahead of Papal Funeral
How do you fix this culture?
×