Elon Musk tells Twitter: My takeover deal is back on
- Reference: 1664903517
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/10/04/twitter_shares_frozen_on_musk/
- Source link:
Twitter's stock spiked more than 10 percent earlier when Bloomberg [1]reported Musk had sent a letter to Twitter saying, effectively, the deal was back on, provided the legal action brought by Twitter against Musk ends. A copy of that letter is [2]now public , via an SEC filing.
Essentially, Musk is saying he'll complete the acquisition as promised as long as Twitter stops suing him – or rather, the court agrees to stay Twitter's legal action – and as long as he gets the money for the takeover in time, or "the proceeds of the debt financing" as his team put it. Halting Twitter's lawsuit against him should also prevent any more of his private text messages being released in court filings.
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Before trades were frozen at 1214 ET [4]shares had risen from $42.55 to a penny shy of $50, before dropping to $47.93.
[5]
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Musk and Twitter are [7]set to go to trial on October 17: the social network sued the world's richest man to force him to stick to his promise to take control of the company and take it private, as he and the board agreed to [8]earlier this year . Musk has spent months trying to back out of the deal.
As the start of the trial fast approached, Twitter [9]released Musk's private text messages to Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, the Tesla tycoon's billionaire pals, and other tech industry luminaries, revealing the brainstorming process and discussions about the proposed purchase. These messages were obtained as part of the lawsuit's discovery process, and included in Twitter's public court filings for all to see.
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[11]Among those messages are things that make Musk seem less a champion of free speech, and more someone who wants to control a massive platform, with texts including statements like "Free speech matters most when it's someone you hate spouting what you think is bull****," in relation to the deal.
[12]Musk says Starlink will ask for exemption to US sanctions on Iran
[13]Twitter datacenter melted down in Labor Day heat
[14]Elon Musk claims SpaceX was in talks with Apple on iPhone 14 satellite services
[15]Judge tells Elon Musk he can't stall Twitter trial
Musk has tried multiple times to get out of the deal, with excuses ranging from not being happy with Twitter's user and bot counts to a claim that a severance payment to a whistleblower [16]breached the purchase agreement, thereby freeing him from his $44 billion takeover pledge and a $1 billion break-up fee.
The judge in the upcoming Twitter-versus-Musk showdown, which may now be scrapped, has [17]already denied one request by Musk's team to delay proceedings.
Tulane University law professor Ann Lipton, who spoke to The Washington Post recently, said the Musk text message cache could [18]endanger his attempts to get out of the purchase at trial, as they "hint at motivations other than he had expressed for backing out of the deal."
While it's impossible to know for sure, the text messages may be a motivating factor for Musk to close the deal on his own terms, and without any more potentially embarrassing documents being made public. ®
Update at 1945 UTC
This article was revised following confirmation of Musk's letter to Twitter, which is now linked above.
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[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-04/elon-musk-proposes-to-proceed-with-twitter-deal-at-54-20-a-share-twtr?srnd=premium
[2] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1418091/000110465922105787/tm2227435d1_ex99-s.htm
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Yzys@7x@ydd8YgcHc8htqgAAAIY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.google.com/finance/quote/TWTR:NYSE?SA=X&ved=2ahUKEwiUku2j_sb6AhWBAjQIHQe6BQQQ3ecFegQIEhAa
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yzys@7x@ydd8YgcHc8htqgAAAIY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Yzys@7x@ydd8YgcHc8htqgAAAIY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.google.com/finance/quote/TWTR:NYSE?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiUku2j_sb6AhWBAjQIHQe6BQQQ3ecFegQIEhAa
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/25/elon_musk_buys_twitter/
[9] https://time.com/6218578/elon-musk-texts-twitter/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Yzys@7x@ydd8YgcHc8htqgAAAIY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.npr.org/2022/09/30/1126084000/texts-released-ahead-of-twitter-trial-show-elon-musk-assembling-the-deal
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/20/elon_musk_starlink_iran/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/13/twitter_datacenter_labor_heat/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/09/elon_musk_starlink_iphone/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/07/musk-twitter-appeal-denied/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/13/twitter_says_775m_severance_payment/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/07/musk-twitter-appeal-denied/
[18] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/30/elon-musk-texts-twitter/
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: hmm
Don't forget to make a scene when your 'Robot' is slammed by experts.
TBH, he like his boss, El Trumpo, needs to learn to shut the hell up. This constant need to be in the media gets rather boring.
If this comes to pass then good. He (or rather his goons) may well screw twitter up so badly that it collapses and he loses a lot of money. Then he can stick to running Tesla and SpaceX. Everything else is a diversion.
Re: hmm
He may well screw twitter up so badly that it collapses
God, if only Christmas would come so early.
You REALLY want me to buy you?
First impressions at this news is that Musk is thinking:
Okay, whether or not the price is good, I will OWN one of the world's most important communications platforms. If I've paid 5, 10, 15 billions more than I should? Whatever. It's all numbers. It's all Monopoly money. I will have Twitter, which gives me:
(1) The power (He-Man)
(2) The Force (Star Wars)
(3) The eyes of the world (Twitter)
I have so much money. I'll take it. You know you will regret this, right?
In other news, shares in popcorn just went up. Chomp. Chomp.
Re: You REALLY want me to buy you?
I will OWN one of the world's most important communications platforms.
Err.. No. It's like FaceMelta in that regard. If you're addicted to anti-social media, it's important. If you're not, you can try finding RealNews elsewhere.
As for popcorn.. What am I to do now? I was kinda looking forward to any of the bot detail that may or may not have been disclosed during the trial. Also curious from a legal perspective about what, if any practical recourse Musk might have to claw back some/any of the purchase price. Once he's taken control, he'll be able to play with bot data all he wants. Still curious how he's planning to finance the transaction, if the rumors are true.
(Or given the Twatter's share price has just spiked, if he's planning to dump the shares he has now, and relocate is office to a non-extradiction country.)
Hope deal goes through so we finally can spread "free speach"!
Then Musk, Trump, Waters and Putin more quickly can solve this world's problems...
https://nypost.com/2022/10/03/elon-musks-peace-proposal-to-end-russia-ukraine-war-sparks-outrage/
https://nypost.com/2022/10/04/kremlin-hails-elon-musks-plan-to-end-ukraine-war-as-positive/
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-63026101
Free Speech
Please go and try saying that Trump lost in 2020 on Truth Social. You will get banned pretty swiftly. Free speech my ass.
Re: Free Speech
Weirdly Truth social is only available in America.
At the moment, Truth Social is available for U.S. users only, but rest assured, we are working hard to make it available in your country.
Someone should phone them and tell them how the Internet works.
And here we receive the sum of all horrors
The company will be in the hands of the temperamental man-boy genius, just before an election, in full tantrum mode.
Retaliation? Liquidation? Bongification?
The existing shareholders may be exited if this isn't just another troll, but I expect Twitter management was gunning for that 1 billion termination payment. They pushed and may have got the whole thing gun barrel in their mouth. Their shareholders are going to laugh and pull the trigger. Employees, customers, and users are going to lose big.
If it ends up a private company, the share price can't tank publicly, but Twitters valuation is in the crapper as soon as the deal is locked in. Musk will have an over priced anchor around his neck, an axe to grind with management, and no reason to say no to any new idea to raise revenue. Twitter outlasted fuckedcompany.com, but @pud may still get the second to last laugh.
Re: And here we receive the sum of all horrors
Musk will have an over priced anchor around his neck, an axe to grind with management, and no reason to say no to any new idea to raise revenue.
But he has ideas for revenue. They may be unpopular, but the whole bot thing revolved around how many users are monetisable. So obvious cash cows would be implementing a monthly fee for a 'verified' user, selling tweet-packs (10 messages for only $4.20!) etc etc.
At which point the twatterverse may discover it's really not that important, and competitors that it's not that difficult to emulate a service. And probably ways to import friends, followers etc. Trump's alternative seemed to spring into being pretty swiftly, no idea how it compares feature/function-wise, but turning 'free' services into paid has always been a good way to lose users.
Re: And here we receive the sum of all horrors
I recall that Twitter became popular when the alphabet agencies were under pressure to stop routinely hacking social media networks
If you can convince the public to put their thoughts out on an open market for the public to read, the spooks don't even need to hack it.
Just imagine the intel they've been able to scoop up over the years.
His lawyers must be telling him he's going to lose the case
Rather than lose face, he's heading it off by 'magnanimously' agreeing to do what he'd already signed a contract to do.
text messages may be a motivating factor for Musk to close the deal
In other words, his lawyers will have told him that he was 100% guaranteed to lose the court case, and will make the smallest loss by doing the deal. He will then be left with a company he now hates, probably end up firing large numbers of staff, and make it so toxic its users start to desert it. The celebs that make up a lot of its appeal will bail as this happens, taking their followers elsewhere with them. At some point he will try and sell it to try and recoup some of his losses. But it'll be a shadow of what it was by then.
Re: text messages may be a motivating factor for Musk to close the deal
And that's a good thing. First, Musk looses some money. Second, twatter goes away.
Congrats, He Did What He Agreed To Do
This is like me expecting praise because I showed up for work. He already agreed to buy it, now he's agreeing to "settle" the case for... doing what he already agreed to do!
If this Musk take over does go ahead, I expect in another 5 years people will react to someone mentioning Twitter like they do now if someone says they have a Myspace account, with: 'Is that still a thing?'
hmm
1, Make public offer to buy a company for a weed joke price
2, Message boss of company slagging it off, using company's own product
3, Claim you never said any of it when price tanks
4, Profit ?
I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps this isn't the world's smartest businessman ?