Business Insider: Elon Musk delayed buying Twitter because of possible World War III
After regular hearings as part of the confrontation between Twitter and Elon Musk, private messages from the billionaire to one of the bankers appeared online. They argued that the agreement would make no sense if World War III broke out.
It is worth noting that new versions about the reasons for Musk’s hesitation and then a sharp change of course regarding Twitter appear in the media constantly. Therefore, most likely, it was a whole set of motives, in which it is difficult to determine the main one.
Elon Musk wanted to slow down the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter months after Russia invaded Ukraine, saying in private messages that it didn’t make sense to buy Twitter ‘if we’re going to World War III.’
The text message was sent on May 8 to banker Morgan Stanley, which is financing part of Musk’s deal. In these texts, the billionaire also quoted the upcoming speech of Russian President Putin. On May 9, the dictator issued a statement in which he called the decision to invade Ukraine ‘the only correct one.’
Presumably, Musk was afraid that after this speech it would become known about the entry of other countries into the war due to the increase in the military pressure of Russia.
Let’s slow down for just a few days. Putin’s speech tomorrow is really important. There’s no point in buying Twitter if we’re heading for World War III, one of Musk’s lawyers quoted Musk as saying.
It is interesting that these messages were added to the case by representatives of the social network. By showing such messages, Twitter’s lawyers wanted to show that Musk’s attention during the decision to buy the company was focused on the financial aspect, and not on the data on the number of fake accounts on the social network.
