Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk suggested delaying his $44 billion Twitter Inc TWTR acquisition months after Russia invaded Ukraine, reasoning that it wouldn't "make sense to buy Twitter if we're heading into World War 3," Business Insider reported.
What Happened: In a court hearing on Tuesday, Twitter's lawyer reportedly cited Musk's private chats from May 8 with a banker at Morgan Stanley, as the tech giant sought to argue that Musk's continued attempts to back out of the deal citing concerns over bots were "all pretext."
According to Twitter's lawyer, Musk, in his private chat, reportedly cited Russian President Vladimir Putin's upcoming speech in May and said, "let's slow down just a few days."
"Putin's speech tomorrow is really important. It won't make sense to buy Twitter if we're heading into World War 3," the SpaceX CEO said, as per the report.
Putin, on Russia's 77th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, said in a speech that his decision to invade Ukraine was the "only right decision."
Musk's lawyer said the characterization of the texts in court was "utter nonsense as the full-text chain shows."
Why It Matters: In early July, Musk backed out of his deal to buy the microblogging platform after claiming that Twitter shared false and misleading information with him.
The two parties are locked in a legal battle initiated by Twitter, arguing that Musk is in contractual breach and his only motivation for getting out of the deal is personal financial concerns.
Price Action: Tesla closed Tuesday's session up 1.56% at $274.42, according to Benzinga Pro data. Twitter shares closed marginally higher at $38.65 a piece.
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