Elon Musk-Twitter deal on hold for now: Key things to know

The US Federal Trade Commission(FTC) recently investigated Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter. The Open Markets Institute recently called for the deal to be halted, claiming that it would give the world's wealthiest man "direct control over one of the world's most important forums for public communication and discussion."

 

Musk recently indicated that after the transaction is completed, he will lift Twitter's ban on former US President Donald Trump. While addressing at the Financial Times Future of the Car conference, he labelled the choice "morally wrong and flat-out foolish." Musk also garnered backing from US Republicans — Trump's political party — for the acquisition, however Democrats were not thrilled.

 

In a regulatory filing before the acquisition, Musk revealed that he owned a 9.2 percent investment in Twitter.

 

As the company's shares fell to their lowest level since the agreement became public on April 25, investors speculated that Musk might not buy Twitter for the agreed price of $44 billion.

 

Musk claimed to have received about $7 billion (approximately Rs. 54,200 crore) in funding for his $44 billion acquisition from a group of investors including Oracle Co-Founder Larry Ellison.

 

According to the terms of the agreement, Twitter shareholders will get $54.20 in cash for each share they own once the planned transaction is completed, the firm stated last month in a public statement.

 

In April, Elon Musk stated that he would buy Twitter for $44 billion. The San Francisco, California-based company will become a privately held company after the transaction is completed.

 

In a filing earlier this month, Twitter stated that bogus and spam accounts account for less than 5% of all users on the platform.

 

Twitter is still yet to respond publicly on the situation. Elon Musk has also not stated whether he is concerned about the number of spam and false users provided by Twitter.

 

"Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/ fake accounts do indeed represent less than five percent of users," Musk tweeted.