Musk has decided to buy Twitter after all – so what happens next?

The Tesla founder may turn Twitter into a libertarian free-for-all which pushes half its users from the site, argues James Moore

Twitter: Elon Musk’s new plaything? (AFP via Getty Images)

Take note of this: Twitter shares are still trading roughly 10 per cent off Elon Musk’s offer price. Wall Street continues to have doubts about this deal.

I know, I know, Musk seems to have decided that he’s going to buy the thing after all, with a trial looming over his attempt to get out of the deal.

He’s spent months alleging that Twitter misrepresented the number of real users on the site – bots aren’t of much interest to the advertisers who provide the bulk of its revenues – but most legal experts didn’t think he had much chance of using this to get out of the transaction.