It reads as though the termination fee applies to both parties.BBC mussing on why Musk may be making a thing about the bots:
If either party in the Twitter deal walks away now, there's a $1bn termination fee.Does anyone know what this means? I would have assumed it means that if Musk "walks away" from the deal over the bot count he would have to pay twitter 1bn, but then the next bit does not make sense.
That may sound like small change to a multi-billionaire - although Mr Musk maintains he is asset-rich rather than cash-rich - but it perhaps gives him leverage to successfully shave a few billion off the offer price, because $1bn is not small change to Twitter and its shareholders.
Of note, he was also playing games before the bid was accepted, Tweeting that he'd do something about the bots if successful. To make that now contingent on the deal going through, really makes it seem like a stock inflation scheme.