He owns it outright doesn’t he?
Others own equity, approximately 1/3 of the initial payment he made was from some of his close friends. Close friends or not, they’re not going to let him off the hook for about 7b, additionally he could not afford to pay them if he shuts it down, he had to borrow between 2 and 3 billion to secure the deal in the first place beyond what they’d invested.
If Twitter becomes profitable, they get paid and everyone on their side is happy. If Twitter doesn’t become profitable, Elon is the one that takes the fall and they get paid anyway so they don’t care, although I’m sure they’d prefer more than their investment back.
But as the richest man in the world, he could cover their stakes. If the goal was to end Twitter, he has the resources to do so without losing anyone else’s money.
But as the richest man in the world, he could cover their stakes.
As previously stated, no. He couldn’t. He needed their money just to acquire the company, he did not have enough liquid assets himself to make the purchase and sold a lot of his stock in Tesla beyond just the equity shares. If Twitter fails he’ll be on the losing end financially for once, so he needs it to be successful. The courts did the world a favor and forced a purchase by actually upholding the law.
He didn’t need their money, he just wanted it. Worse comes to worst, he can find enough in the couch cushions to cover them.
He didn’t need their money, he just wanted it.
Oh, okay.
