Biden administration officials are discussing whether the United States should subject some of Elon Musk’s companies to a national review, including contracts with Twitter Inc and the Starlink SpaceX satellite network, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing those familiar with the case.
The head of SpaceX recently took to Twitter to announce proposals to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, also saying that SpaceX cannot fund its Starlink website in Ukraine endlessly. He later resigned and said he would continue to pay for the service.
Sources told Bloomberg that discussions about Musk’s companies review are at an early stage, adding that U.S. government officials are considering what tools, if any, are available to allow the federal government to review Musk’s companies.
One possibility is a law governing the United States Foreign Investment Committee (CFIUS), which reports to the US Treasury Department to review Musk’s companies, the report adds.
One component of Musk’s $ 44 billion (3.64,500 crore) Twitter deal that could trigger a CFIUS review is the presence of foreign investors in the Musk consortium, Bloomberg said.
The group includes an investor from Saudi Arabia, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Binance, which was established in Shanghai.
A spokesman for the US Treasury Department said CFIUS does not comment publicly on transactions that it may or may not analyze.
Twitter and SpaceX did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Musk said he would step away from the deal to buy Twitter in May, saying the company had underestimated the number of bot accounts and spam on the social media platform, triggering a series of lawsuits between the two parties.