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News that Elon Musk has agreed after all to proceed with his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter may have felt like a stunning surprise from the brash billionaire who loves to shock. It sent shares of the social media platform soaring and stoked alarm among some media watchdogs and civil rights groups worried about what kind of free speech would flourish on Twitter under Musk’s vision.
But it wasn’t surprising to observers of the monthslong rollercoaster of the Twitter vs. Musk legal battle, as Twitter tried to compel the world’s richest man to consummate the buyout he had tried to back out of. In the months since his initial offer to buy Twitter in April, Musk faced a huge legal challenge.
A combination of gambles or missteps by Musk and potential advantages that didn’t pan out made his hand appear weak in the trial looming in less than two weeks in Chancery Court in Delaware. He is setting as a condition for completing the deal that the trial being put on hold.
More immediately, Musk faced a deposition in the case by Twitter’s attorneys starting Thursday.
What gambits, challenges and missed advantages came along the way?
WHAT WAS MUSK’S MAIN ARGUMENT FOR BACKING OUT OF BUYING TWITTER?
Musk grounded his argument largely on the allegation that Twitter vastly misrepresented how it measures the magnitude of “spam bot” accounts that are useless to advertisers.
