Not long after the deal was made, Musk began expressing concern that Twitter had a bigger problem with bots and fake accounts than he had initially let on, which would mean that the actual number of users (and, therefore, the value of the company) was less than the price of $54.20 per share that it had offered. The deal was set up so that if Musk backed out due to buyer’s remorse, he would have to pay a billion dollar fine.
The bot issue dragged on, with Musk unhappy with the way Twitter claimed to measure actual users and Twitter defending its numbers. The social network the former head of security introduced himself claiming that the bot’s numbers were actually inaccurate, which Twitter disputed. At the beginning of August, Twitter filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery to force Musk to abide by the original terms of the agreement. That lawsuit was supposed to move forward next week in court.
The day before the letter sent to Twitter announcing his plans to move forward with the original deal, Musk seemed busy with other interests, such as the war in Ukraine.
