It’s just my opinion at this time, based on good analysis from others. The agreement has been made, but Musk is already violating the terms of that agreement. At a certain point whichever side disrupts the terms will end up paying a billion dollars for breaking the contract.
He has had a nauseating way of breaking sensible laws for corporate officers in handling information, and wanting to claim the SEC is violating his free speech. He used Twitter to put his foot in his mouth so deep that he gained notice by the SEC in 2018 and they charged him with securities fraud. Musk settled, but lately has tried to back out of that settlement. The court decided against him — for obvious reasons.
I see him as a brilliant person (sometimes), but his impulses and grandiose thinking get carried away. About Twitter? An excellent column via the LA Times came out last night that enumerates many reasons that could block Musk’s purchase of Twitter. Please read it; I don’t want to violate fair use. Among the difficulties for Musk:
* He appears to have already violated agreement terms — not an auspicious first day.
* Tesla share price is overvalued and Musk is using some of his shares to secure a loan for the deal. This puts his shares and ergo the Tesla stock price at risk. How many investors are going to see Musk-Tesla as a good investment should that risk evolve into loss?
* All major automakers are in the EV market now competing with Tesla.
* There’s are serious conflicting interests. Tesla has a promising future in the China market, but China’s government doesn’t like Twitter. How is that resolved without a Musk loss somewhere?
* He has no clue about what “free speech” is but thinks he should be able to say whatever he pleases. Is his personal PR charm going to start failing and shake investor confidence in him?
The ownership of our media has been my main concern about the Musk Twitter purchase. Now I tend to think he didn’t take the effort to think it through and that could seriously dent his personality brand. This purchase is in big trouble, and that would be great if it didn’t go through. The last thing this country needs is another obscenely wealthy man gaining ownership of a major media company (like Murdoch, Bezos, Sinclar, and many others) and so continue to consolidate our information sources into the hands of a few billionaires.