According to people familiar with the case, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that Biden Administration officials are debating whether the United States should subject any of Elon Musk’s endeavours to a national assessment, including the sale for Twitter Inc. and SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network.
The CEO of SpaceX recently announced plans to stop Russia’s conflict in Ukraine on Twitter. He also stated that SpaceX could not continue to finance its Starlink internet service in Ukraine. Later, he changed his mind and declared that he would still pay for the service.
According to sources who spoke to Bloomberg, discussions about reviewing Musk’s ventures are still in their early stages. Officials in the U.S. government are also considering what mechanisms, if any, may be available to allow the federal government to evaluate Musk’s ventures.
According to the report, one way to assess Musk’s business activities is through the legislation controlling the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which reports to the U.S. Department of Treasury.
The existence of foreign investors in Musk’s consortium is one aspect of the $44 billion Twitter transaction that could prompt a CFIUS examination, according to Bloomberg.
Binance, a cryptocurrency launched in Shanghai, and Saudi Arabian businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal are included in the group.
The CFIUS does not publicly comment on transactions that it may or may not be reviewing, according to a U.S. Treasury Department official.
Reuters reached out to Twitter and SpaceX for comment, but neither company responded right away.
In May, Musk announced he would cancel the purchase of Twitter, claiming the firm had overstated the number of spam and bot accounts on the social media site. This sparked a string of legal disputes between the two sides.
Musk changed his mind earlier this month and declared he would carry out the agreement under its original provisions.
