Elon Musk on Friday announced he was backing out of his $44 billion Twitter acquisition bid, blaming the social media platform’s alleged lack of transparency regarding bots on the site.
As both sides prepare for a lengthy court battle, some Twitter influencers are floating an alternate theory for the change of heart: The bots were never the problem, merely a vehicle through which to covertly sell Tesla options that were about to expire, reports Erin Prater of Fortune.
“Entire thing was a clever ruse to SELL + LIQUIDATE $8.5 BILLION of TESLA STOCK (w/plausible excuse for doing it),” Josh Wolfe, co-founder of Lux Capital, tweeted Friday after the announcement. The tweet included math that suggested Musk would walk away with more than $7 billion in liquidated stock—even after paying the $1 billion breakup fee. “Honestly think he can ‘land rockets’ but can’t fix ‘bots’?” Wolfe asked rhetorically.
Henry Blodget, founder and CEO of Insider, retweeted Wolfe, adding that Musk’s 10-year Tesla options were about to expire, “so he had to sell them.” “The Twitter bid did allow him to do that without his facing questions about why he was selling. And he sold at an excellent price!” Blodget said via tweet.
