How Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover plans shook Wall Street and social media

Elon Musk wears many hats as Tesla CEO, SpaceX CEO, and founder of the Boring Company and Neuralink.

He’s also a prolific Twitter user. The news that Musk made a $44 billion offer to buy Twitter and potentially become the social media company’s CEO has sent shock waves through Wall Street and social media.

“Forty-four billion continues to be a head-scratcher for a company that I believe is probably worth closer to $30 or $35 billion,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives in an interview with CNBC. “But when you’re the richest person in the world, you can do that. And that’s why Twitter investors, when they saw the $44 billion, they were popping champagne or drinking their favorite alcohol.”

The deal can still fall through, though. As ongoing stock market volatility wipes millions in market cap from tech companies, Musk said he’s putting the deal on hold until he gets more clarity on how many fake accounts exist on Twitter. Analysts believe Musk may be using this debate to drive down his proposed $54 per share takeover price now that so much value has been drained from tech stocks over the past few weeks.

And on Friday, Musk finds himself embroiled in scandal. He’s taken to Twitter to respond to a report from Business Insider that says SpaceX paid a flight attendant $250,000 in severance over a sexual misconduct claim made against him.

Twitter declined to comment about the allegations and reiterated comments from earlier in the week that the company’s board remains committed to the original deal with Musk.

Watch the video above to find out more about how Musk’s bid for Twitter came together, how the social media company could change under his watch and what obstacles remain that could stand in the way of the deal going through.