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How Elon Musk's Twitter takeover plans shook Wall Street and social media

Name: How Elon Musk's Twitter takeover plans shook Wall Street and social media
Uploaded: 2022-05-21T12:59:02.000Z
Duration: 8 min 15 s

Elon Musk is known for using Twitter to hype everything from colonizing Mars to Tesla's autopilot features. Now, he's attempting to buy the underperforming social media network for $44 billion. The deal faces several obstacles, though. Musk now wants Twitter to prove a certain number of its users aren't bots, and there's the risk that the deal's financing scheme falls apart. Here's how Musk's bid for Twitter came together, how the social media company could change under his watch, and how the deal could still fall through.

08:15

Sat, May 21 20228:59 AM EDT

Noah Higgins-Dunn

Jeff Morganteen

Elon Musk wears many hats as Tesla CEO, SpaceX CEO, and founder of the Boring Company and Neuralink.

He's also a prolific Twitter user. The news that Musk made a $44 billion offer to buy Twitter and potentially become the social media company's CEO has sent shock waves through Wall Street and social media.

"Forty-four billion continues to be a head-scratcher for a company that I believe is probably worth closer to $30 or $35 billion," said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in an interview with CNBC. "But when you're the richest person in the world, you can do that. And that's why Twitter investors, when they saw the $44 billion, they were popping champagne or drinking their favorite alcohol."

The deal can still fall through, though. As ongoing stock market volatility wipes millions in market cap from tech companies, Musk said he's putting the deal on hold until he gets more clarity on how many fake accounts exist on Twitter. Analysts believe Musk may be using this debate to drive down his proposed $54 per share takeover price now that so much value has been drained from tech stocks over the past few weeks.

And on Friday, Musk finds himself embroiled in scandal. He's taken to Twitter to respond to a report from Business Insider that says SpaceX paid a flight attendant $250,000 in severance over a sexual misconduct claim made against him.

Twitter declined to comment about the allegations and reiterated comments from earlier in the week that the company's board remains committed to the original deal with Musk.

Watch the video above to find out more about how Musk's bid for Twitter came together, how the social media company could change under his watch and what obstacles remain that could stand in the way of the deal going through.