Elon Musk says his takeover of Twitter is 'on hold.'
Source: New York Times
Elon Musk said his $44 billion bid to purchase Twitter was temporarily on hold until he could get more details to confirm that spam and fake accounts represent less than 5 percent of the social networks total users.
Mr. Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, made the announcement in a pre-dawn tweet on Friday. He linked to a Reuters article published on May 2 about a regulatory filing by Twitter that included an estimate of the number of spam and fake accounts. Shares in Twitter fell about 20 percent in premarket trading on Friday.
Link to tweet
Mr. Musk has said that ridding the platform of fake accounts, bots and spam is one of his top priorities after taking over. Known for his freewheeling and sometimes impulsive business style, Mr. Musks comments raise questions about the future of a deal that would put one of the most influential social media platforms under the control of worlds wealthiest person.
The deal for Twitter includes a $1 billion termination fee that Mr. Musk would have to pay if he backs out of the deal, though it was unclear how such a clause would apply if Mr. Musk determined Twitters user figures were incorrect. Mr. Musk has pledged to use a considerable amount of his personal fortune to finance the deal for Twitter, a plan that has been impacted by a recent plunge in stock prices, including Teslas. Teslas stock has fallen nearly 30 percent in the past month. Mr. Musk is both selling Tesla shares and putting them up as collateral for personal loans to raise cash.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/13/business/elon-musk-says-his-takeover-of-twitter-is-on-hold.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur
OP ARTICLE TWEET TEXT
@elonmusk
Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users
A 3D-printed Twitter logo on non-3D printed Twitter logos is seen in this picture illustration taken April 28, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
reuters.com
Twitter estimates spam, fake accounts comprise less than 5% of users -filing
Twitter Incestimated in a filing on Monday that false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users during the first quarter.
5:44 AM · May 13, 2022
Seems like these "utterances" have been moves to manipulate the stock price.
Original article -
Mr. Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, made the announcement in a pre-dawn tweet on Friday. He linked to a Reuters article published on May 2 about a regulatory filing by Twitter that included an estimate of the number of spam and fake accounts.
Link to tweet
Mr. Musk has said that ridding the platform of fake accounts, bots and spam is one of his top priorities after taking over.
Known for his freewheeling and sometimes impulsive business style, Mr. Musk's comments raise questions about the future of a deal that would put one of the most influential social media platforms under the control of world's wealthiest person.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Phoenix61
(16,949 posts)JohnSJ
(91,937 posts)I hope the shareholders sue the hell out him, along with the breakup fee.
gldstwmn
(4,575 posts)It almost looks like he is manipulating the stock with this BS.
JohnSJ
(91,937 posts)At the minimum it looks like stock manipulation to me
Pachamama
(16,873 posts)I honestly think this was part of his plan all along. I think its his revenge on Twitter and a big giant fuck you. He will pay any fines and laugh the whole way on to his next thing he does.
I never took his intention to buy Twitter seriously.
I am seriously hoping for some karmic retribution amd consequences to hit Musk. He epitomizes the arrogance and hubris of so many of the über wealthy who think they have a license to do whatever they wish.
Phoenix61
(16,949 posts)mask sense. Im reminded of a quote from The Great Gatsby:
They were careless people, Tom and Daisy they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.
mahatmakanejeeves
(56,873 posts)underpants
(182,270 posts)I flip over to Fox in the morning from time to time. The three stooges on the couch explaining away lies was something to behold.
SouthernDem4ever
(6,450 posts)bucolic_frolic
(42,651 posts)Hopefully class action lawyers will go after it. Shorts got burned, options volatility exploded, all for doofus ego. He didn't even abide by the SEC reporting rules which is to notify when a 5% stake is taken.
sop
(9,943 posts)fraud." - Josh Marshall
That's likely the reason he wants to buy Twitter.
FreepFryer
(7,077 posts)What a shitty manipulative snake oil shilling moral shitsplat.
That our societies can be manipulated and exploited by the likes of Musk and Trump is one of our shittiest failings as a planet.
2Gingersnaps
(1,000 posts)One will run his mouth into a prison cell, and hopefully the other will run his mouth into a Chinese factory floor-since he has so much respect for factory workers. /S
C_U_L8R
(44,889 posts)Seems more likely the crypto crash has left him a bit short on cash.
Time for someone like Microsoft to swoop in and grab a bargain.
Boy, does Twitter's board of directors look like fools.
Now they have to sell before shareholder lawsuits take them out.
BumRushDaShow
(127,251 posts)By Shawn Tully
May 11, 2022 8:00 PM EDT
In early 2021, Elon Musk bestowed the landmark endorsement that, more than any other high-profile purchase, sent Bitcoin on a moonshot and clinched its status as a mainstream investment. Musk famously purchased $1.5 billion in the king of cryptocurrencies using spare cash on the EV makers balance sheet, a highly unorthodox move since most companies abhor putting their war chests at risk. In public statements, Musk and CFO Zach Kirkhorn expressed great pride in pioneering a new practice of wagering to make big money on dollars virtually every other enterprise just wants to keep safe. Kirkhorn declared on last years Q1 conference call that the purpose was to get some return on cash not immediately being used for operations. In a SEC filing weeks earlier, Kirkhorn went so far as adding a second title to his rank as CFO: Master of Coin.
But so far, the grand experiments proved a bust. On the morning of May 11, Bitcoin dropped below $29,400, erasing all of Musks once-sumptuous gains, and though it rebounded later in the day, its now hovering near the break-even point.
(snip)
https://fortune.com/2022/05/11/bitcoin-crash-elon-musk-holdings-tesla-balance-sheet/
2Gingersnaps
(1,000 posts)Do these grown ass adults think they are starring in Game of Thrones? Seems the type of emotional maturity one would expect from this bunch.
crickets
(25,896 posts)Non paywall link: https://archive.ph/4aAwj
BumRushDaShow
(127,251 posts)I could only get partially through it before it started blocking the rest although at least that partial excerpt basically summed it up.
bucolic_frolic
(42,651 posts)NewHendoLib
(59,940 posts)dlk
(11,425 posts)He may be brilliant in some areas but his Twitter takeover efforts are a clear blind spot.
PatSeg
(46,773 posts)The first story I saw in my emails this morning.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)Delphinus
(11,808 posts)this as a way to get the stocks to fall to where his Tesla holdings will be enough to purchase it.
What an ass this person is.
BumRushDaShow
(127,251 posts)But the bitcoin market says, not so fast!
The manufacturer of high-end electric vehicles had invested in bitcoin in February 2021.
Luc Olinga
May 10, 2022 3:05 PM EDT
The few established companies that have added bitcoin to their balance sheets are now beginning to see this investment go awry. Tesla invested $1.5 billion in virtual currency on Feb. 8, 2021, and said it was beginning to accept it as payment for buying Tesla cars.
The move came days after Chief Executive Elon Musk temporarily changed his Twitter mini-description to simply #bitcoin. The announcement was a mark of confidence in cryptocurrency. Bitcoin prices then jumped past $42,000.
Tesla claimed that this investment in bitcoin was aimed at diversifying its sources of liquidity and gaining flexibility in order to be able to largely remunerate its shareholders. But a few months later, in May 2021, Tesla indicated that it no longer accepted bitcoin as a means of payment. It cited as a reason that it wanted to preserve the environment since minting of bitcoins consumes enormous amounts of electricity.
(snip)
Tesla's Investment Is in the Red
For several months, Tesla's bitcoin gamble paid off, especially when the price hit an all-time high of $69,044.77 on Nov. 10. But since then prices have plummeted and are currently hovering around $31,000. The bitcoin-price slump puts Tesla's initial investment in the red. Indeed, the Austin company seems to have lost money. According to Bitcoin Treasuries, Tesla's 43,200 bitcoins purchased for $1.5 billion are currently valued at $1.35 billion, down $150 million, or about 15%.
(snip)
https://www.thestreet.com/investing/cryptocurrency/tesla-loses-money-on-bitcoin-bet
Delphinus
(11,808 posts)I admit to knowing nothing about crypto.
BumRushDaShow
(127,251 posts)and I know DU has a bunch of crypto-currency-knowledgeable (and I am not one of them but do remember back when it was first being introduced and the concept behind it, etc).
jmowreader
(50,447 posts)DemocraticPatriot
(4,170 posts)Good luck with that...
tanyev
(42,354 posts)Because if you got rid of all the fake accounts that followed TFG, for example, his number of followers would go way down. And then he would throw a non-stop persecution tantrum.
Achilles Skye
(24 posts)if my friends & I make more fake accounts?!
Joinfortmill
(14,229 posts)Alexander Of Assyria
(7,839 posts)mopinko
(69,803 posts)this guy not so much.
dchill
(38,315 posts)JudyM
(29,122 posts)BootinUp
(46,924 posts)Progressive dog
(6,861 posts)and that he has to pay the termination fee.
LetMyPeopleVote
(143,998 posts)It is clear that the margin loan structure would not work. This structure exposed both Twitter and Tesla. The new financing is not cheap https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-12/musk-seeks-to-scrap-tesla-margin-loan-with-new-twitter-funding
See also https://www.zerohedge.com/political/musk-looking-scrap-tesla-margin-loan-secure-new-twitter-funding
Musk has announced that this deal is on hold.
Link to tweet
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/13/musk-twitter-bid/
Link to tweet
Musks net worth, which makes him the worlds richest man, has fallen by around $50 billion in recent weeks, according to Forbes real-time wealth index. And Tesla stock has shed nearly 30 percent of its value in just the past month.,,,,
Musk has leveraged much of his Tesla stock as collateral for his loans, making the recent economic downturn a particular issue for his bid. Tesla has warned of the risks it faces because of the amount of Tesla stock Musk has put down as collateral. Tesla stocks were trading at under $730 on Thursday, well below the more than $1,100 mark from early April. A drop by several hundred more dollars could trigger requirements that would force Musk to sell some shares, analysts said.
At one point last year, he had put down more than half of his shares as collateral, according to financial filings. Because the Twitter bid would only add to that percentage, Musk has faced pressure to reduce his equity commitment, according to people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
It will be interesting to see of Musk can pull off this deal. It is clear that this deal will not be financed based on margin loans using Tesla stock
BumRushDaShow
(127,251 posts)Link to tweet
@joshtpm
·
May 13, 2022
Hadnt Tesla parked a few billion of reserve cash in crypto?
Dr. MadScientistPhD
@MadScientistPhD
cnbc.com
Tesla says it held nearly $2 billion worth of bitcoin at the end of 2021
By Dec. 31, the fair market value of its bitcoin holdings came in at $1.99 billion.
7:54 AM · May 13, 2022
I suppose some of this is going to hinge on where that market is headed.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/bitcoin-ether-terra-luna-tether-crypto-prices-today-51652342984?tesla=y
Alexander Of Assyria
(7,839 posts)2Gingersnaps
(1,000 posts)special emphasis on "maniac." Tripping and falling on those egos is gonna hurt bigly.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)now maybe he can fix his self-immolating cars. Speed might kill, burning in a car that catches fire in an accident is more than just a problem. Fire Depts. struggle to put out the fire.
Bengus81
(6,907 posts)And...the lemmings send it back up 10.00 per share.
usonian
(9,413 posts)that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users
The "board" found 6.
but gave Musk a 15% discount.
Justice matters.
(6,873 posts)And he admires the orange "everything-he-touches-dies" Pingouin.
BumRushDaShow
(127,251 posts)Burgess Meredeth's "Penguin" (not Cesar Romero's "Joker" )
LetMyPeopleVote
(143,998 posts)Musk will have to pay Twitter a breakup fee of $1 billion if calls off the deal. This was always a sketchy deal with suspect financing. The use of a margin loan never made sense, Musk likes the attention but making this transaction work in the real world may not be n the cards.
Link to tweet
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-05-13/elon-musk-shows-some-buyer-s-remorse-with-twitter
I suspect Musks jitters about buying Twitter are all about the money and has nothing to do with how many bots are zooming around the platform. He just doesnt want to say that. If the richest guy in the world wanted to be more honest about whats going on, he might have to acknowledge that his primary credit card his shares in Tesla Inc. doesnt have the buying power it once did.
Musk said last month that he wanted to buy Twitter for $43 billion when he only had about $3 billion in cash on hand. Most of the fortune of the worlds richest man, which added up to some $259 billion at the time, was tied up in his Tesla shares. Since then, Teslas shares have lost about 36% of their value, and Musks net worth has fallen to about $215 billion......
After all, Musks tweet about how many fake accounts there are on Twitter linked to a Reuters news article that is 11 days old. If this was a possible deal-breaker for him, he could have said so then. But the stock market wasnt unwinding as rapidly at the time, either.
Musk has been able to use his Twitter bid to secure more attention for all of the things he doesnt like about it. He tweeted yesterday that although he would prefer a less divisive candidate for president in 2024, he thinks that Twitter should end its ban on former President Donald Trump. In that context, less divisive appears to be a polite way of saying someone who hadnt torched the Constitution and tried staging a coup. But Musk doesnt appear to be bothered by those nuances which, of course, makes him a questionable steward of Twitters future.
BumRushDaShow
(127,251 posts)and quid pro quo offer to RW billionaires to maybe "bail him out" by buying some Tesla shares in exchange for...
crickets
(25,896 posts)Gee, the description sounds so familiar. Phrases like this are just the polite code for 'jackass.'
Catherine Vincent
(34,485 posts)But he's still committed to the acquisition. Are they crying?
Marthe48
(16,688 posts)Did he just wake up one day and say, "I reckon I'll spend $44 billion on something.
God.
godfree2
(38 posts)Carlitos Brigante
(26,481 posts)BlueWavePsych
(2,634 posts)BumRushDaShow
(127,251 posts)That's perfect!
Norton Nork
(33 posts)The company was losing money and he thought a bit of populism would turn it around.
And he certainly made the stock go up. Perhaps now he will take his profit and bug off, leaving a stink behind him.
Full disclosure: I have never been on Twitter and don't plan to start.