Featured Image Credit: Elon Musk/ Instagram/ Alamy
Topics: Elon Musk, Twitter, Social Media
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Elon Musk, Twitter, Social Media
The peculiar details of Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter buyout have been revealed.
Twitter confirmed it had received Musk's proposal on 14 April, and by 25 April, the deal was confirmed.
The final takeover is set to take place by 24 October, but in the meantime, the Tesla CEO and now Twitter owner and the platform have had to review some intriguing terms and conditions to make sure the deal is closed.
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The 'Agreement and Plan of Merger' document between Musk's X Holdings and Twitter, dated 25 April, has laid out some of the conditions both sides will have to adhere to, from a penalty charge if one side bows out, to conditions Musk must follow, such as his conduct on Twitter.
The document states that Musk must not 'disparage the company or any of its representatives' in tweets.
However, the SpaceX founder 'shall be permitted to issue Tweets about the Merger or the transactions contemplated hereby'.
Just earlier this month, Musk deleted past tweets he had written which criticised the platform.
If either Twitter or Musk decide to pull out of the deal, they will be required to pay a penalty fee of $1 billion.
While Twitter is now banned from actively looking for other buyers and has been told to terminate any other negotiations, if a potential buyer approaches the social network company, Twitter can tell Musk and demand a better offer in four days.
However, if a potential buyer outbids the world's current richest man, then Twitter would have to pay the $1 billion termination fee to Musk.
The termination fee would also be required to be paid by Musk if he fails to secure the adequate funding to close the deal.
If certain conditions haven't been met by either party, the close date of 24 October does have the option of being extended.
Since announcing the deal, Musk has faced fierce backlash online from Twitter employees.
However, neither the Tesla CEO or Twitter are allowed to use public criticism as a reason to pull out of the deal according to the document.
Parties are also unable to walk away on the basis of cyberattack, unforeseen regulatory changes or a pandemic such as Covid-19 occurring.
The document also emphasises Musk's purchasing of Twitter as being a merger opposed to the company being bought outright.
Twitter is set to merge with Musk's three separate holding companies, X Holdings I, II and III.
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