Elon Musk Bought Twitter Because He Had No Choice

On Tuesday evening, Elon Musk granted a rare interview to BBC reporter James Clayton on Twitter Spaces. During their conversation, Clayton probed Musk about his acquisition of Twitter, questioning whether it was a voluntary decision or if he only proceeded with the purchase due to the ongoing court case in which Twitter attempted to force his hand into the sale of the platform.

Not that anyone would be surprised by the news, Musk confirmed during the interview that he only went through with the Twitter purchase because he believed he would be legally obligated to do so. Here is the pertinent excerpt from the Twitter Spaces recording:

Clayton: So then you change your mind again, and decided to buy it – did you do that? Did you do that?

Musk: Well, I kind of had to.

Clayton: Right. Did you do that, because you thought that a court would make you do that?

Musk: Yes.

Clayton: Right.

Musk: Yes, that is the reason.

Clayton: So you were still trying to get out of it. And then you just were advised by lawyers, “Look, you’re going to buy this?”

Musk: Yes.

Back in September 2022, Twitter took Musk to court to force him to follow through on his signed commitment to purchase the company for $44 billion or $54.20 per share. Musk argued that his obligation was null and void, citing Twitter's alleged exaggeration of its actual user count and the downplay of the number of fake bot accounts on the platform.

Afterward, Musk informed the SEC that he would proceed with the acquisition of Twitter at the originally agreed-upon price, which many believed was a result of his weak legal position and the unfavorable trajectory of the trial.