Musk hasn't bought Twitter yet

Hey all, it’s Sarah in San Francisco. Don’t be so sure the Twitter-Elon Musk deal saga is over. But first...Today’s must-reads:• Amazon froz [Bloomberg]( Hey all, it’s Sarah in San Francisco. Don’t be so sure the Twitter-Elon Musk deal saga is over. But first... Today’s must-reads: • [Amazon froze corporate hiring]( in its retail business • Nasdaq will wait on regulators before [opening a crypto exchange]( • Micron will invest as much as [$100 billion in a New York chip factory]( It’s not over yet Months of legal barbs exchanged between Twitter Inc. and the world’s richest man—who urgently wanted to own the company and then changed his mind—climaxed this week in an apparent peace offering. Musk said in a [letter to Twitter’s board]( that he would buy the social network, after all. He plans to honor the original $44 billion price tag he agreed to in April, plus everything else in that contract. Shares surged more than 20% on Tuesday, with Twitter investors betting on a done deal. But the company stopped short of declaring victory or dropping its lawsuit, set to go to trial in two weeks to force Musk to go through with the transaction. There’s a good reason for that. While Musk has secured the financing for the deal—from banks that are no doubt bemoaning the commitments they made [during better economic times](bbg://news/stories/RJ8TR3DWX2PS)—he has not earned any trust with Twitter. The company would probably like to get its money before closing up its legal shop. Back in April, Musk was on friendly terms with Twitter, and ready to join its board. The company had prematurely put his face on their investor relations page and invited him to do a question-and-answer session with employees. But he reneged the same week, apparently frustrated after Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal told Musk that his negative public commentary was making it [hard for employees]( to focus, according to text messages released last week. Musk then offered to buy the company with a whirlwind take-it-or-leave-it letter, without waiting for due diligence. Mere weeks after Twitter accepted, Musk worked to unwind the commitment, openly mocked members of management and questioned whether the network’s user numbers were fraudulently calculated. Musk’s repeat offer was made providing that the Delaware Chancery court “enter an immediate stay” of Twitter’s fight “and adjourn the trial and all other proceedings related” to the case. The provision hints at what might have sparked Musk’s change of heart: His closest contacts are [being deposed](, their [private messages]( with him are becoming public via the court, and that’s bad for business overall. There was also the matter of the string of pre-trial rulings that [weren’t going Musk’s way](, possibly a sign that he’d have trouble in court. This week’s letter to Twitter’s board gives Musk cover to expire the offer if he wants to—the judge hasn’t yet granted a stay on the case. At Twitter, as the news of Musk's commitment to buying the company went public, employees were a few minutes into a three-hour discussion of various teams’ priorities for 2023, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. If Musk ends up owning Twitter, the whole thing was a waste of time. Agrawal left the event, but the presentations continued, with no mention of Musk’s change of heart. After all the whiplash of the high-stakes drama, Twitter isn’t Musk’s until the shareholders get paid. —[Sarah Frier](mailto:sfrier1@bloomberg.net) The big story A new video game from Activision Blizzard called Overwatch 2 delivers some excitement to the publisher in an otherwise slow year for releases. “We wanted to [broaden the reach of the franchise](,” said the game’s general manager. What else you need to know Blockchain startup Horizon [secured $40 million in a funding]( round led by Brevan Howard and Morgan Creek. Meta plans to close one of [its New York offices]( amid looming cutbacks. A founder of the bankrupt crypto lender Celsius resigned ahead of an [asset sale expected later this month](. Dubai-based StarLink scrapped IPO plans [in favor of a merger]( with Infinigate. “He’s not a politician but he is a political figure.” [Bloomberg TV considers]( what Twitter could look like under Musk. Follow Us More from Bloomberg Dig gadgets or video games? [Sign up for Power On]( to get Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more in your inbox on Sundays. [Sign up for Game On]( to go deep inside the video game business, delivered on Fridays. Why not try both? Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights.​​​​​​​ You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](