Charlie Gasparino Explains Why Elon Musk Hasn’t Tweeted in More Than a Week: ‘For Once, He’s Listening to His Lawyers’

Charlie Gasparino said Elon Musk’s unusually long Twitter hiatus is due to ongoing negotiations between the Tesla Motors CEO and Twitter’s board of directors.

Musk last tweeted on June 21.

In April, Musk and Twitter struck a deal in which the billionaire would buy the company for $54.20 a share, or about $44 billion. The deal was expected to close sometime later in the year. Since then, Twitter’s stock has sunk to $38.23 a share as of Friday.

“Here’s what bankers are telling me,” Gasparino told Neil Cavuto on Friday’s Your World. “So, take it for what it’s worth. And some of these bankers proclaim to be involved at least tangentially in the discussions, Musk’s discussions to take over Twitter. They say he is negotiating right now with Twitter about a lower price. His lawyers essentially have told him to lay off Twitter while this negotiation goes down because they’re not sure exactly where it’s going to show up.”

Under the agreement, Musk is obligated to buy the company at $54.20 a share, a price he’s expected to cover through a combination of his own money and financing from banks. Given the big haircut Twitter’s stock has taken – as well as Tesla’s, which Musk will need to use as collateral to get financing – he appears to be attempting to wriggle out of the agreed-upon price tag.

“This thing could also be heading for litigation,” Gasparino continued. “For once, he’s listening to his lawyers. So that’s kind of where we are. And the price tag, a lot of people think, that’s gonna be worked out.”

He added that he’s heard Musk is trying to renegotiate the price to somewhere around $40 a share.

While the deal requires Musk to buy the company at $54.20 a share, Twitter shareholders may want to cash out at a lesser price sooner rather than hoping courts to rule in their favor later.

“They’re looking at a way to creatively finance this where everybody makes a few bucks and walks away,” said Gasparino. “They’re in a pickle.”

UPDATE: Hours after this article was published, Musk resumed tweeting, doing so regarding matters unrelated to his pending purchase of Twitter. 

Watch above via Fox News