Elon Musk Facing Billions in Potential Damages From Twitter Takeover

Elon Musk faces potential damages of $2.6 billion ^[4] after a U.S. judge rejected his bid to set aside a fraud verdict regarding Twitter.

The ruling underscores the legal and financial fallout from Musk's acquisition of the social media platform, which he transformed into X Corp. The decision follows a series of disputes over how the takeover was executed and the treatment of the company's workforce.

Musk completed the acquisition of Twitter in October 2022 ^[5] for a purchase price of $44 billion ^[1]. He said the hostile takeover was "vicious," using the process to implement aggressive cost-cutting measures and consolidate control over the San Francisco-based company [2, 3].

These measures resulted in the firing of most of the company's employees. According to reports, 6,000 workers were fired without severance ^[2]. This led to a settlement amount of $500 million to be paid to those affected workers ^[2].

Author Ben Mezrich said the environment during the transition was chaotic. He said some employees contacted him immediately after being fired because Musk had failed to have them sign non-disclosure agreements.

"I had some really wonderful sources in there who were just, because he fired people and then realized that he hadn't made them sign NDAs, so immediately they called me," Mezrich said. "That's the best time you want to interview someone — is the day they were fired because they're angry."

Musk sought to take the platform private to reshape its operations and governance. However, the transition has been marked by persistent litigation and high-profile disputes over the original merger terms, and the subsequent management of the company's staff ^[3].