Musk cripples Twitter?
Elon Musk says his Twitter purchase is "temporarily suspended". Here because
Elon Musk collapses the Twitter stock by putting the acquisition on hold.
The Twitter purchase agreement is "temporarily suspended pending details that support the calculation that spam / fake accounts represent less than 5% of users". Tesla's boss Musk, future owner of the social network, writes in a tweet after the acceptance by the board of directors of Musk's offer of 44 billion dollars for 100% of Twitter .
Twitter plunges pre-market Twitter shares 19.7% to $ 36.23 while Tesla gains around 5%.
Two hours later, the American entrepreneur returns to the subject by tweeting that he was "still engaged in the acquisition".
Musk has made reducing the amount of "spam and scam bots" and "bot armies" on Twitter one of his main goals to improve the service , as well as prioritizing free speech and open sourcing of ranking algorithms. of the platform.
"Musk's takeover bid has been characterized by so many twists and turns that Wall Street is starting to feel skeptical that it will happen," says Axios . Musk turned "this circus show on Twitter into a horror show on Friday the 13th," wrote technology analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities in a note to clients picked up by CNN .
Could Musk chirp these waltz rounds on Twitter to lower the bargain figures?
THE TWEET OF ELON MUSK
The $ 44 billion operation is on standby "pending details to support the calculation that spam / fake accounts represent less than 5% of users," Elon Musk announced today. Musk announced the move along with a link to a Reuters article published on May 2 that referred to a filing with the U.S. financial regulator, in which Twitter claimed fake or spam accounts accounted for less than 5% of its own. average daily users.
"I remain committed to the acquisition" of Twitter, Musk later adds.
Still committed to acquisition
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022
SPAM ACCOUNTS
In its quarterly financial report, released on April 28, Twitter estimated that fake or spam accounts made up less than 5% of the platform's active users during the first three months of the year. Twitter noted that the estimates were based on a sample account review and believed the numbers were "reasonable". But he acknowledged that the measurements have not been independently verified and that the actual number of fake or spam accounts may be higher.
THE NEXT STEPS
So now Musk intends to check if spam or fake accounts really represent less than 5% of the total.
Though Musk worked to secure funding for the acquisition, skepticism that the deal would go through has prevailed on Wall Street since Twitter's board of directors accepted the offer on April 26.
THE PRICE OF THE AGREEMENT
Musk said he would buy Twitter for $ 54.20 per share. But Twitter's stock never came close to that price, staying below $ 50 for weeks.
Twitter is now trading at a 33% discount from the $ 54.20 price tag, a clear sign that investors don't believe a deal will happen near that price and possibly not at all.
Wall Street analysts weren't even convinced of Musk's ability to buy Twitter, at least not at $ 54.20 a share. The consensus target price was less than $ 52, and the overwhelming majority assigned a “hold” rating to the company's stock.
THE PENALTY IN CASE OF WITHDRAWAL
Yet Musk has agreed to pay a $ 1 billion fee to Twitter if he defaults on the deal.
THE COMMENT OF THE ANALYSTS
But the market already had negative presentiments about the success of the operation.
"Wall Street will see this deal as 1) probably falling apart, 2) Musk is negotiating for a lower price, or 3) Musk is simply walking away from the deal with a $ 1 billion breakup fee," wrote Daniel Ives. Wedbush Securities analyst. "Many will see him as Musk using these Twitter storage / spam accounts as a way out of this deal in a rapidly changing market."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/musk-azzoppa-twitter/ on Fri, 13 May 2022 13:56:31 +0000.