Musk's Acquisition of Twitter Drags On

[Steve R.]

As I write this, the stock price of Twitter (TWTR) is $37.25 per share. What does this tell us?

• The market does not believe that Musk will acquire TWTR at $54.20 per share.
• TWTR is not worth $54.20.

It appears that Musk made the offer to buy TWTR on April 14, 2022. The fact that the stock price of Twitter did not immediately jump to $54.20, or has otherwise increased over the intervening time implies that the proposed acquisition is simply dragging on.

This post is a follow-up to the thread below.

Twits Running Twitter

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-elon-musk-super-stressed-twitter-employees/ Rumman Chowdhury, a director on Twitter’s AI research team. She also noted that Twitter had a “beautiful culture of constructive criticism” Christ, you couldn't make it up! Only if you ban the people you don't like...

www.access-programmers.co.uk

As a side note:

SpaceX fires employees who criticized Elon Musk: report

Elon Musk's SpaceX has reportedly fired several employees after they drafted an open letter criticizing the behavior of the chief executive officer.

www.foxbusiness.com

Employees, have a personal freedom-of-speech right, to express their (individual) opinions. However, when they organize to publicly intimidate a company into acquiescing to certain demands that are "out-of-focus" with the business goals of a company, the employees have crossed an invisible line that justifies their termination. Netflix, for example, simply stated (paraphrased), "If you don't like the company, don't work here." It is about time, that company management pushed back at this type of intimidation.

Ironically, there is a side side note. The New York Post writes: Disney slams Florida for signing ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill into law. Did the management of Disney put the proposal that Disney as a company should slam Florida before it's share holders? This is of critical concern from the perspective that Democrats claim with great sanctimony to stand for democracy as an institution. Yet, the management of Disney did not ask its "voters" (shareholders) if they approve of management's action. In a general sense, companies should stay out of politics as their job is to sell. Should they wish to make a political statement, management should put that question before the shareholders for approval.

 

[AccessBlaster]

The $54.20 is the hostile takeover price that includes a premium. After finding shenanigans in the bookkeeping Musk is no doubt angling for a better price or to get out altogether.

I read somewhere yesterday that Musk might support DeSantis for a presidential run.

 

[Steve R.]

I read somewhere yesterday that Musk might support DeSantis for a presidential run.

Ron DeSantis quips about Elon Musk's 2024 support: 'I welcome support from African-Americans'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quipped that he welcomes "support from African-Americans" after Elon Musk signaled his support in the 2024 presidential election.

www.foxnews.com

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Last I heard, there was some evidence that about 20% of the Twitter accounts were bots of some sort, which - if you were buying it for market share - would mean that the original presentation of market share was artificially inflated. I.e. misrepresentation to a potential buyer, which I would call fraud. Musk is probably right to force a re-evaluation.

 

[Pat Hartman]

Kraken is also standing up to the mob.

'Someone must be offended': Crypto company pledges to be world's least progressive exchange

'Words nor silence are ever ‘violence’'

www.dailydot.com

 

[Isaac]

Kraken is also standing up to the mob.

'Someone must be offended': Crypto company pledges to be world's least progressive exchange

'Words nor silence are ever ‘violence’'

www.dailydot.com

I was happy to read that too. I remember that I worked somewhere years ago where the management openly said if everyone always agrees then people aren't being honest. What happened to that common sense? Bring it back.

"The Offended Generation"
Or
The Victim Generation
Would be my votes

 

[Steve R.]

It's over, maybe. Lawsuits to follow. Original thread: Twits Running Twitter

Elon Musk tells Twitter he's terminating deal to buy social media giant

Elon Musk is terminating the agreement to by buy Twitter, alleging that the social media giant made "false and misleading representations."

www.foxbusiness.com

Elon Musk Pulls Out of Twitter Buyout Deal

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has declared his intention to pull out of his proposed $44 billion deal to take over the far-left social network Twitter, following months of back-and-forth between Musk and the company's board.

www.breitbart.com

The stock market never believed that his acquisition would ever occur.
Whether Musk was playing us or not with is offer is unknown.
One unexpected outcome of Musk's offer and the reaction by the Twitter staff demonstrated that social media actively tilted the 2020 Presidential election to favor Biden and denigrate Trump. Though this acquisition appears to have now died, Musk did make a significant contribution to promoting free-speech and exposing the corruption of platforms such as Twitter.

Elon Musk jokes Twitter would have censored Paul Revere, criticizes for ‘squashing dissenting opinions’

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk embraced the spirit of July 4th by condemning censorship with some humor: clearly fake Tweet showing Paul Revere getting fact-checked by Twitter.

www.foxnews.com

 

[moke123]

Lawsuits to follow.

yup. Twitter is going to sue to enforce the deal. Didn't he waive his due diligence rights when he made the offer?

Why Twitter has ignored Elon Musk's 'trolling'

A unilateral pronouncement that the acquisition of Twitter Inc is "on hold". Fierce criticism of the social media company's handling of spam accounts. A "poop emoji" directed at Twitter's chief executive, Parag Agrawal.

www.reuters.com

 

[Steve R.]

Hopefully Musk will have some excellent lawyers. Will Twitter really want to have their internal operations exposed through a trial? This could be a bigger entertainment circus than the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard trial.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I can't wait to see their algorithms used to block conservatives and shadow ban them.

 

[AngelSpeaks]

Hopefully Musk will have some excellent lawyers. Will Twitter really want to have their internal operations exposed through a trial? This could be a bigger entertainment circus than the Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard trial.

Very enjoyable!

 

[Pat Hartman]

Did they ever publish the percentage of Twitter users that turned out to be bots?

 

[Steve R.]

Musk pulled the plug. Today, the price of Twitter (TWTR) collapsed to $33.36 over the lunch hour. The price will fluctuate over time. TWTR, has been significantly overvalued. Where the bottom (true value) is, is an unknown.

 

[Steve R.]

Twitter whistleblower alleges execs misled board and public on spam, security

A Twitter whistleblower is alleging "extreme, egregious deficiencies by Twitter" related to privacy, security and content moderation.

www.cnbc.com

FTC Charges Twitter with Deceptively Using Account Security Data to Sell Targeted Ads

The Federal Trade Commission is taking action against Twitter, Inc. for deceptively using account security data for targeted advertising.

www.ftc.gov

I'm not sure how this is going to shake-out in the end, but it would appear to favor Musk legitimately backing out of his proposed acquisition. It would appear, that as Twitter's dirty laundry is exposed; that Musk could successfully back-out of his proposed acquisition based on Twitter "violating" the law.

I don't think Twitter really wants to be exposed to sunlight.

 

[JonXL]

So should they drop the price?

 

[Steve R.]

So should they drop the price?

No. Twitter should pay Musk $1 Billion to walk away so he won't expose them in court.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Did they ever publish the percentage of Twitter users that turned out to be bots?

Pat, the last estimate I saw was 20% as opposed to the originally claimed 5%.

 

[JonXL]

No. Twitter should pay Musk $1 Billion to walk away so he won't expose them in court.

At this point wouldn't that be as good an admission of guilt as anything?

I can't imagine the effect on Twitter's stock price being much different paying off Musk after initially fighting him vs just letting the evidence come out. The action of paying him off would speak clearly enough given all that's recently happened.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

And NOW, there is a Twitter whistle-blower muddying up the waters. Elon probably did well to step away from THAT hornet's nest.

 

[Steve R.]

Elon Musk files another notice to cancel Twitter takeover, citing whistleblower's data privacy concerns

Tesla CEO Elon Musk filed another notice on Monday announcing his intent to cancel the purchase of Twitter, citing a recent whistleblower complaint.

www.foxbusiness.com