Elon Musk has taken over Twitter and fired its CEO and other top executives
Trading in company shares was suspended Friday on the New York Stock Exchange and the stock will be officially delisted early next month, according to a filing with securities regulators. So now what?
One reason why Musk bought Twitter this week is that he had little choice
The world’s richest man spent months trying to back out of the $44 billion purchase agreement he originally signed in April
Twitter sued him in the Delaware Court of Chancery to force the deal’s completion, and a judge gave a Friday deadline to complete the deal or face a November trial that Musk was likely to lose
As for why Musk wanted to own Twitter in the first place, the reasons are more complicated
“There has been much speculation about why I bought Twitter and what I think about advertising,” he said in an open letter Thursday to companies that sell ads on Twitter, which is how the company makes money
It’s not yet clear how Musk secured all of the financing to close his $44 billion agreement to buy the company and take it private
A group of banks, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, signed on earlier this year to loan $12.5 billion that Musk needed to buy Twitter and take it private
Solid contracts with Musk bound the banks to the financing, although changes in the economy and debt markets since April have likely made the terms less attractive