Chapter 74: Hot and Cold: Twitter, April–June 2022

In April–June 2022, Musk secures financing for his $44 billion Twitter acquisition from investors including Larry Ellison and Sequoia Capital, while simultaneously experiencing mounting doubts about the deal's wisdom and pricing. His confidence fluctuates sharply as he discovers operational deficiencies at Twitter and faces pressure over bot-account disclosures, culminating in a tense due diligence meeting and a cautious virtual town hall with employees.

On April 24, Musk's lawyers finalize the Twitter purchase agreement with the board. He recruits outside investors throughout late April, successfully enlisting Larry Ellison (who commits $1 billion despite not using Twitter for a decade) and securing commitments from Sequoia Capital, Binance, Andreessen Horowitz, Dubai and Qatar-based funds, and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's rollover. Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, attempts to interest Musk in a blockchain-based Twitter rebuild with a $5 billion investment offer, but Musk rejects the proposal on technical grounds and finds Bankman-Fried's demeanor off-putting during a May phone call. The board accepts the deal on April 25; Musk notably spends that evening with his brother Kimbal at a roadside café rather than celebrating. When Musk's four older sons question the acquisition at a rooftop dinner in Los Angeles, he initially jokes about getting Trump elected in 2024, then reassures them of his genuine commitment to creating an inclusive digital public square—though they remain skeptical. On May 6, Musk arrives at Twitter headquarters for a critical due diligence meeting, finding CFO Ned Segal and other executives evasive about the company's methodology for calculating bot and fake accounts (officially 5 percent, but Musk believes substantially higher). He fires off pointed questions about software engineering productivity, server spending, and operational efficiency, concluding the meeting was "the worst diligence" he'd ever witnessed and suggesting Twitter's public disclosures might constitute fraud. His enthusiasm for the deal crashes as he recognizes he has overpaid—the stock now trades 30 percent below his $54.20 offer—and he considers the possibility of repricing or exiting altogether. At 4 a.m. on May 13, he tweets that the deal is "temporarily on hold pending details" on fake accounts, causing a 20 percent pre-market drop; within two hours, under pressure from his business manager Jared Birchall and lawyer Alex Spiro, he posts a correction affirming his commitment. On June 16, Musk attends an unprepped virtual town hall with Twitter employees via Google Meet (requiring last-minute troubleshooting). Rather than igniting conflict, he moderates his positions, distinguishing between freedom of speech and freedom of reach, explaining the need for harassment safeguards, and asserting his belief in meritocracy while denying he has become ideologically conservative. Over the following months through the October close, his emotional state regarding the acquisition swings between enthusiasm and cold anger.