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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNYT: Musk's purchase of Twitter is "on hold"
Elon Musk says his takeover of Twitter is on hold.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/13/business/elon-musk-says-his-takeover-of-twitter-is-on-hold.html?referringSource=articleShare
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.
More at the link
Link to tweet
?s=20&t=6VeNei-j5E-xnmANe9wKBQ
stonecutter357
(12,697 posts)HipChick
(25,485 posts)Hugin
(33,135 posts)Pooties bots may not qualify as either for instance.
Wouldnt some regulatory oversight be nice, Mr Libertarian?
Also, its not clear if he wants more fake and spam or less.
Anyway, it seems like a convenient excuse not to do something he didnt intend to do to begin with or hes manipulating the stock price down to a better fit for his budget. Dont laugh hes done it before and walked away with a tiny little fine. Because hes, Musk.
Tickle
(2,520 posts)to pay less for twitter to
SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)His financing scheme is collapsing.
I think he wants out of the deal.
Seems like a possibility.
TheBlackAdder
(28,189 posts)BumRushDaShow
(128,911 posts)If you think about it, this is the quandary.
On the surface, "more accounts" means "more eyeballs" means "more potential traffic" for businesses and "more incentive" for Twitter to charge a premium for the ads.
On the distaff side, if a huge chunk of those "more accounts" are nothing but worthless (in terms of potential customers) "bots and spammers", then there is little "value" to paying "more' for the privilege to advertise.
So Twitter itself may be trying to justify their ad pricing by claiming "less than 5% of the accounts are bots/spammers", which we all know is bullshit (we hear continually about how they have to keep going in and removing mass numbers of accounts and yet they keep returning).
Reuters had this little article at the end of last month that seems to sum up what might happen -
Last Updated 31 min ago
Breakingviews: Elon Musk probably wont buy Twitter
By Lauren Silva Laughlin and Gina Chon
Four years ago, Elon Musk vowed to set up a peanut brittle company to take on Warren Buffetts iconic U.S. confectioner Sees Candies. Then he changed his mind. It wouldn't be surprising if Musk's $44 billion deal to buy social network Twitter went the same way. Sure, the Tesla boss was clearly serious about acquiring Twitter as of recently. The financing from Morgan Stanley is shored up. The agreement includes a fee of $1 billion that he or Twitter would have to pay if they renege on the contract.
And Twitters lawyers even wedged in a so-called specific performance clause, which could theoretically force Musk to buy the company if he threatens to back out, though in practice this could probably be settled by adding to the break fee. There are good reasons for him to get cold feet. The biggest is Tesla. The electric-vehicle makers stock has fallen around a fifth since Musk first revealed his stake in Twitter, partly because Musk may sell shares to fund his new adventure. If Teslas stock bounces back likely if the Twitter deal falls away the $40 billion of recouped wealth would more than make up for the break fee.
(snip)
In reality, Musks absolutism probably won't survive a Twitter deal anyway. European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton told the Financial Times this week that the company must police illegal or harmful content or risk being banned. In the United States, where regulators are less aggressive, other technology firms could effectively create the same threat. Apple, for example, gets to decide which apps appear in its influential store.
One thing makes it easier for Musk to walk away before any of this becomes a problem: The market partly anticipates it already. Twitters stock is currently trading 11% below his offer price a fairly wide spread for a deal with little antitrust pushback. Musks tweets criticizing some company actions potentially flouting the merger agreement - already suggest he might be starting to lose interest. Most likely, Musk's attention will wander elsewhere. It wouldn't be the first time.
https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/elon-musk-probably-wont-buy-twitter-2022-04-27/
From what I posted in another thread, the bitcoin meltdown just took down much of his Tesla value. Found another article about that -
Tim Levin
20 hours ago
In February 2021, Tesla made waves when it announced a $1.5 billion bitcoin investment, while most corporations wouldn't touch the volatile cryptocurrency with a ten-foot pole. But that ten-figure bet may be now under water as the crypto market at large plunges, erasing hundreds of billions in gains that investors have enjoyed as cryptocurrencies soared in recent years.
The price of bitcoin has plummeted 17% since Sunday, to around $29,000 for one coin as of Thursday morning or roughly 55% from a November peak near $68,000. The downturn comes amid a similar skid in broader financial markets, leaving investors little room to hide and wait out the storm. Tesla amassed its bitcoin stake between January and early February 2021, when the currency was trading for anywhere between $29,000 and $40,000. On average, we can estimate that Tesla bought its coins somewhere in the middle, in the mid-$30,000 range.
(snip)
But after months of losses, bitcoin is now worth substantially less than what Tesla likely bought it for. As of March 31, Tesla said it held $1.26 billion in digital assets. Add that to the $272 million that the company made from previous sales, and you get slightly over $1.5 billion, meaning Tesla was just barely breaking even on its investment before bitcoin tumbled another 30%.
Still, it's possible the company cashed out its holdings at just the right time. We won't know the true damage, if there is any, until Tesla's next quarterly earnings report.
https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-bitcoin-investment-cryptocurrency-crash-2022-5
SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)I knew about the speculation that Musk wouldnt actually buy Twitter but I didnt know about Teslas heavy investment in crypto.
I knew Musk was a big proponent of crypto but didnt know he ties up company shares in it. I thought he only invested (or gambled really) on it with his private funds.
It seems like malfeasance to use corporate dollars to sink into crypto currency.
BumRushDaShow
(128,911 posts)I think for the ultra-billionaires, cryptocurrencies are a way to hide and launder their money. But since nothing is "backing it", the volatility danger is clear as day and you'd have to not be risk-averse to do what he attempted to do. But then in their case, they use the crypto "on paper" wealth as a leverage to buy more (vs the "old days" of taking on lots of debt to acquire "assets" to use as leverage to buy more).
Was just looking at this, which is mind-numbing - https://coinmarketcap.com/
There you go, filling in the gaps again, BR.
On an aside, crypto crashes seem to be a predictable front end to a wide stock decline. Probably because there are many out there who are using crypto and :shudder: digital-ape-drawings (NFTs) to fill in their margins. Seriously, what happened to lower-case-c-conservative banking? Its a brave new world, my friend.
BumRushDaShow
(128,911 posts)faux "on paper wealth" that they could use as leverage to buy more stuff (until it starts to disintegrate).
TheBlackAdder
(28,189 posts)BumRushDaShow
(128,911 posts)meanwhile the stock has plummeted down to almost $41/share as of the last look -
Published Fri, May 13 202212:49 PM EDT
Tanaya Macheel
@tanayamac
TWTR-3.89 (-8.62%)
AFRM+5.35 (+29.63%)
HOOD+2.05 (+23.97%)
Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Twitter Shares of the social media platform slid 8% after Elon Musk said his take-private deal is on hold until he receives more information about how many fake accounts there are on Twitter. Still, Musk said he was still committed to the acquisition.
(snip)
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/13/stocks-making-the-biggest-moves-midday-twitter-affirm-robinhood-and-more.html
FAST MONEY HALFTIME REPORT
RT Quote | Last NASDAQ LS, VOL From CTA | USD
Last | 12:58 PM EDT
41.21 -3.87 (-8.58%)
Volume
40,565,748
52 week range
31.30 - 73.34
https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/TWTR
He had offered to buy it at $54.20/share.
ecstatic
(32,701 posts)BumRushDaShow
(128,911 posts)but may need to trade up to the next size.
Buckeyeblue
(5,499 posts)I never understood why he wanted Twitter. Social media is dying. But Tesla and SpaceX...very innovative. He's nuts. But his ideas on electric cars and reusable rockets are pretty good.
LiberalFighter
(50,912 posts)Waiting to confirm that spam and fake statements represent less than 5 percent of Musk?
LetMyPeopleVote
(145,176 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
SoonerPride
(12,286 posts)Thank you.
LetMyPeopleVote
(145,176 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.
pwb
(11,261 posts)I hope Bill Gates bought some shares to stop the deal. We need our billionaire to stand up.