We all know that Elon Musk has a loud mouth or even better a tendency to Tweet about anything that comes to his mind. As such, numerous times until now we see tweets about his backing up from the ongoing Twitter deal, about the alleging issues that he has with the company, etc.
However, this time, things are a little bit more serious. He files an official legal document to Twitter where he demands from the company to provide the information he asks for before he continues the deal.
Elon Sends One Final Warning Before Leaving Twitter Deal
Past Monday, June 6th, his lawyers sent an official letter to the social media corporation Twitter and to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the letter, they threaten that Elon might leave the multi-billion deal if they do not provide the information he seeks on spam and fake accounts as soon as possible.
To clarify things, Elon is asking for the exact method that the company is using to determine the percentage of fake accounts, as well as the data from the research. Until now they fail to provide valuable information on the matter.
Twitter agrees on pointing out the method they are using, but to accompany this there is no official sharing of the actual numbers from the research. And according to Elon’s legal team, this leaves the billionaire unsatisfied greatly. Since they are refusing to do this for such a long period, something smells funny.
Musk’s legal team says if Twitter fails to share the information in a given period, their contractor reserves his rights ‘not to consummate the transaction’. Also, they point out that he has a ‘right to terminate the merger agreement’ on this basis.
From Twitter, they launch a series of excuses saying that the billionaire seems to gain interest in this topic after he launches the bid. That until the bid is done there was no interest in the fake/spam accounts whatsoever. Moreover, he did not bring this question up until he realized that it is mentioned in one of their clauses.
But, we must refer to this from a different angle. An angle different from the one of the Twitter investors and officials. The question is not whether the data is something that Twitter considers important, it is why Elon needs the data? And why should they provide it to him?
The total number of Twitter users is about 230 million. The company claims that only 5% of these 230 million are fake. They’ve made these claims to Musk and to the SEC. However, they include a caution with it that ‘the estimate might be low’. So what does this mean? They are standing behind the claim, or not?
According to Musk, in contrast, the estimate for fake accounts is much higher. He claims that this percentage is somewhere around 20%. And he could be able to tell this. He has one of the most engaging accounts on the social media and receives and sees fake activity on a daily basis. This is an obsession of his that lasts for a long time. Moreover, he sees these fake accounts in action all the time. Mostly when they use his name in order to promote some cryptocurrency or to push on some scam.
Musk takes his time with this issue. It seems that he is not in a hurry anywhere. He plays back and forth with it for quite some time now. At his countering party, the social media’s board, there are some rumors leaking. Rumors state that whilst the Twitter deal is on hold, Twitter might file a lawsuit forcing the billionaire to think fast. He will have two main options, to proceed or to back off the deal completely.
Even though the stock price of Twitter went through a considerable fall since April, it is expected to stabilize after the negotiations are over. The greatest benefit that Twitter might have now is indeed to be bought by the billionaire. The deal price is much greater than the one shown on the stock market currently. However, if the billionaire breaks up the deal, Twitter will welcome the $1 billion breakup fee that comes with it. And as we said, it will face stabilization of the price afterward. So at the moment, this might be a win-win scenario for Twitter.
But, do things look so good for Elon? He currently announces that he is planning to let go of around 10% of his staff at Tesla. That fact alone signals a crisis. Furthermore, according to critics, he asks for a stoppage of remote work, so he can make people leave the company themselves.
During the corona pandemic, the stock market price of Tesla rose from $100 to an astonishing high of $1000. That makes it possible for the billionaire to rise to the top as the wealthiest person in the world for a brief time. However, at the moment the stock price of Tesla is around $700, the same as one year ago.
Musk is constantly on Twitter. As a free speech absolutist, his posts can cover anything, starting from politics and ending with edgy memes. And one thing that he notices is that the range of his popularity as the owner of Tesla is in direct proportion to the height of the stock price.
The evident rise of the stock market price for Tesla starts back in 2020. Over the course of two years, Elon gains more than $110 billion. According to Forbes, with that, he set the world record for the biggest one-year gain ever recorded.
What are your thoughts on the Twitter deal? Does Musk plan to close it any time soon? What are his intentions? Let us know in the comments.
