Elon Musk says his takeover of Twitter is 'on hold.' [View all]

[BumRushDaShow]

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 network’s 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. 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.

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 Twitter’s 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 Tesla’s. Tesla’s 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

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OP ARTICLE TWEET TEXT

Elon Musk
@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 -

Elon Musk said his $44 billion bid to purchase Twitter was "on hold" until he could get more details to confirm that spam and fake accounts represent less than 5 percent of the social network's 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.

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.