Elon Musk complained that he is overpaying for Twitter weeks after agreeing to end his efforts to back out of purchasing the company and to uphold his initial offer of $44 billion.
The billionaire said during a Wednesday Tesla earnings call that he was not pleased with the price but that the platform’s potential was greater than its current value. Musk’s remarks echo the frustrations that he experienced amid his attempt to acquire Twitter.
“Although obviously myself and the other investors are obviously overpaying for Twitter right now, the long-term potential for Twitter in my view is an order of magnitude greater [than] its current value,” Musk said in the call.
A TIMELINE OF TWITTER’S ON-AGAIN, OFF-AGAIN PURSUIT OF TWITTER
“I’m excited about the Twitter situation, because, obviously, I know their product incredibly well,” he added. “And I think it’s an asset that has sort of languished for a long time but has incredible potential.”
Musk had agreed to buy Twitter in April but attempted to reverse the decision in May, citing concerns about spam bots. Musk filed a letter in July saying he was terminating the deal. Twitter quickly reciprocated by filing a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery intended to force him to uphold the deal. The two teams fought for months in order to prove that the other was being deceptive, with Musk arguing that Twitter had lied about the number of spam bots on the platform while Twitter argued that he pulled out after seeing Tesla stock dip in value.
Musk sent a letter to Twitter on Oct. 4 announcing his decision to acquire the company once he finalized financing from banks and Twitter’s trial ended.
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Now, Twitter and Musk have until Oct. 28 to finalize the deal or else risk the case going to court. While it is possible Musk could reverse his decision again due to him struggling with funding, Twitter has continued to move forward as planned. The company froze company equity award accounts on Monday, a reflection of its expectation of the deal finalizing.
