[mattnewton]

My guess is he is trying to bluff them into changing the terms of the deal. In the current tech market, the price he is paying is suddenly not attractive at all, and will require a substantially higher stake of his Tesla shares. If he can get them to believe he will walk he might be able to renegotiate the price lower or get out altogether with paying only a $1b fee. I don’t think either of those things are likely but with $XXb on the line it’s worth a try to Musk?

[tsimionescu]

> If he can get them to believe he will walk he might be able to renegotiate the price lower or get out altogether with paying only a $1b fee.

Now that he can't simply walk away and pay $1B. The contract he signed has a few extremely limited circumstances where the deal may fall through, and in those few cases, he would pay the $1B. In any other case, he has to pay the full amount.

[matwood]

Exactly. Twitter doesn't have to accept a lower deal. Musk is on the hook for the deal he signed.