Correct. It is not a cancellation fee. Musk cannot cancel the contract, only a court can make that determination after concluding that Musk is unable to finance the deal.
I am not a lawyer so I am quite curious as to how that plays out.
Assuming he has it, could the courts force him to sell $40B in assets?
> Assuming he has it, could the courts force him to sell $40B in assets?
In principal, courts could either order him to complete the buyout (specific performance) or make those injured by his failure to do so whole (money damages). If they chose the former and he continued to fail to do so, he could be punished for contempt of court, either civil contempt (including, e.g., progressive fines and/or imprisonment until and unless he complied) or criminal contempt (fines or imprisonment of a set amount of period.)
I am not a lawyer so I am quite curious as to how that plays out.
Assuming he has it, could the courts force him to sell $40B in assets?