Skip to content

Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 69% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Twitter shares: Elon Musk pulling out of acquisition deal?

Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, is reportedly close to withdrawing from the bid to buy Twitter. However, the proposed deal commits Musk to a cancellation payment of $1 billion, which the report also says he wants to avoid paying.

Video poster image

(Video Transcript)

Musk's Twitter acquisition deal in jeopordy?

According to reports late last night from The Washington Post, Tesla founder, Elon Musk, is close to pulling out of the deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.

Let's take a look at where we are in terms of what we're hearing from The Washington Post, according to unnamed sources quoted by the paper. There's going to be a change in direction from Musk's team soon and Musk has stopped engaging in certain discussions about funding the deal.

However, others involved, such as Oracle founder, Larry Ellison, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Binance and Fidelity all according to this report, still on board for financing after signing the deal in early May.

Share price reaction

Let's take a look at the share price reaction. These are hourly candles and you can quite clearly see here this pullback that we had in yesterday's trade at the exact time that this report came out on the wires.

And it was after the close of the US session yesterday so we haven't yet seen that negativity built in to today's cash session on the IG platform. Twenty-four hour coverage here or 18-hour coverage, we thought a further drop down around about one fifth of 1% on from the declines we saw yesterday.

This black line here at 3915 was the point at which we then initially heard of Musk's interest in Twitter. And you can see this is the upside. So we are trading below that level.

So if the deal is called off, I don't think it's necessarily going to be much more downside to go from where we are at the moment. This blue dotted line is the target price that Musk was talking about - $54.20 equal to $44 billion.

So at the moment at least we've got Twitter remaining under the trade it was at when we first heard about this deal and according to the Washington Post, it may soon fully be announced that it's over.

The one other item to be finished here, the terms of the original merger agreement include a stipulation that Musk would be liable for $1 billion payment to Twitter if he backs out of the deal.

TechCrunch is reporting that Musk is also combing through the fine print there to look for ways out of that.

This information has been prepared by IG, a trading name of IG Markets Limited. In addition to the disclaimer below, the material on this page does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. IG accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of this information. Consequently any person acting on it does so entirely at their own risk. Any research provided does not have regard to the specific investment objectives, financial situation and needs of any specific person who may receive it. It has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such is considered to be a marketing communication. Although we are not specifically constrained from dealing ahead of our recommendations we do not seek to take advantage of them before they are provided to our clients. See full non-independent research disclaimer and quarterly summary.

Act on share opportunities today

Go long or short on thousands of international stocks with spread bets and CFDs.

  • Get full exposure for a comparatively small deposit
  • Trade on spreads from just 0.1%
  • Get greater order book visibility with direct market access

See opportunity on a stock?

Try a risk-free trade in your demo account, and see whether you’re on to something.

  • Log in to your demo
  • Take your position
  • See whether your hunch pays off

See opportunity on a stock?

Don’t miss your chance – upgrade to a live account to take advantage.

  • Trade a huge range of popular stocks
  • Analyse and deal seamlessly on fast, intuitive charts
  • See and react to breaking news in-platform

See opportunity on a stock?

Don’t miss your chance. Log in to take advantage while conditions prevail.

Live prices on most popular markets

  • Equities
  • Indices
  • Forex
  • Commodities


Prices above are subject to our website terms and agreements. Prices are indicative only. All share prices are delayed by at least 15 minutes.

Prices above are subject to our website terms and agreements. Prices are indicative only. All shares prices are delayed by at least 15 mins.

Plan your trading week

Get the week’s market-moving news sent directly to your inbox every Sunday. The Week Ahead gives you a full calendar of upcoming economic events, as well as commentary from our expert analysts on the key markets to watch.


For more info on how we might use your data, see our privacy notice and access policy and privacy webpage.

You might be interested in…

Find out what charges your trades could incur with our transparent fee structure.

Discover why so many clients choose us, and what makes us a world-leading provider of spread betting and CFDs.

Stay on top of upcoming market-moving events with our customisable economic calendar.