Elon Musk Seemingly Blamed Putin's Invasion Of Ukraine For Not Buying Twitter

Tesla CEO Elon Musk seemingly blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine as the reason why he backed out of a deal to buy Twitter, as revealed in a Tuesday hearing.

Musk made the comments in private text messages he sent to a banker at Morgan Stanley on May 8. In the messages, Musk argued that it would not make sense for him to buy Twitter "if we're heading into World War 3," Business Insider reported.

In addition to citing Putin's war in Ukraine, Musk also cited an upcoming speech that Putin was set to give on May 9, marking the 77th anniversary of Russia's victory against Nazi Germany.

"Let's slow down just a few days," Twitter's lawyer said, reading out Musk's texts during the hearing, as quoted by the outlet. "Putin's speech tomorrow is really important. It won't make sense to buy Twitter if we're heading into World War 3."

In response, Musk's lawyer Alex Spiro of Skadden Arps blasted Twitter's characterization of the text messages in court, arguing that it was "utter nonsense as the full text chain shows." The full text chain is expected to be presented next week.

Musk first inked a $44 billion deal to acquire the social media platform in April. However, the billionaire abruptly dropped out of the deal in July. In a notice filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk's team said that "Twitter has not complied with its contractual obligations."

"Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information," Mike Ringler, a Skadden Arps attorney, said in the letter, disclosed in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing. "Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr. Musk's requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr. Musk incomplete or unusable information," the letter stated.

Musk's team also filed a follow-up notice, disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission, citing allegations made by Twitter's former head of security Peiter Zatko who claimed the social media platform had lax cybersecurity and that it was using spam accounts to boost user data.

Musk's move prompted Twitter to file a lawsuit to enforce the contract and make him acquire the social media platform at the agreed-upon price. A five-day court trial over whether Musk must honor his agreement to buy Twitter is set for Oct. 17.