Elon Musk said 4 years ago that he would create a peanut brittle company to do business with Warren Buffett’s well-known US confectioner, See’s Candies. He later didn’t do that. It wouldn’t be surprising if Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter followed suit.

He appeared to be serious about acquiring Twitter.Morgan Stanley has acquired money. If the agreement is broken, he and Twitter will have to pay a $1 billion penalty.Twitter’s lawyers even added a “particular performance” clause, which could theoretically require Musk to buy the company if he wants to leave. However, this could probably be fixed by raising the break fee.

There are legitimate reasons for him to develop cold feet. Tesla is the most powerful. Since Musk first revealed his stake in Twitter, the shares of the electric vehicle maker have declined by almost a fifth. This is due in part to Musk’s potential sale of stock to fund his new venture. If Tesla’s stock price returns, as is predicted if the Twitter deal goes through, the $40 billion in recouped wealth will more than pay the break fee.

China is indeed a major source of disagreement. Tesla produces half of its cars.  However, Twitter is no friend of the Republic of The union, as seen by its recent disobedience of Beijing in filtering content related to Hong Kong protests. If Musk’s Twitter refuses to comply, China may just take Tesla hostage. That disturbs a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist.”

According to the Financial Times this week, European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton said that the firm must govern illegal or hazardous material or risk being outlawed. Other technical businesses in the United States, whose regulators are less strict, may pose the same threat. 

One element makes Musk’s decision to leave before any of this becomes an issue easier: the market has already started to expect it. Twitter’s stock is already selling 11% below his asking price, a significant margin for a merger with no antitrust objections. Musk’s tweets criticizing numerous company practices that may violate the merger agreement signal that he is getting bored. Musk’s attention will most likely go somewhere else. This would not be the first time something like this occurred.