Musk’s conduct during Twitter bid always risked lawsuits and may prove to be “a very costly mistake”

John Colley, Associate Dean at Warwick Business School and former MD of a FTSE 100 company with experience and expertise in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), said:

“Fake accounts have always been an issue for Twitter, but they didn’t dissuade Elon Musk from launching his bid. Bringing it up when he did seemed to be little more that an excuse to withdraw gracefully. After all, $43 billion is a lot of money for a hobby, even for someone with Musk’s resources.

“The offer was too expensive in the first place and seems even more so now, given the fall in technology markets and the amount of risk involved in trying to turn Twitter around and break even. The collapse in Tesla’s share price following the original offer showed what investors thought of it.

“Musk’s choice to conduct negotiations publicly, with the whole thing played out on social media, complicated things further and meant lawsuits were always a likely outcome.

“It just goes that even one of the richest people in the world cannot do and say whatever he wants with no repercussions. This bid could become a very costly mistake for Elon Musk.”