pantsonfire
Drama Llama
Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy your life with those who you love.
Posts: 5,980 
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Post by pantsonfire on Jul 9, 2022 1:06:34 GMT
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pantsonfire
Drama Llama
Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy your life with those who you love.
Posts: 5,980
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Post by pantsonfire on Jul 9, 2022 1:09:17 GMT
Elon Musk wants to terminate his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter - the latest in a whirlwind process in which the billionaire Tesla CEO became the company's biggest shareholder, turned down a board seat, agreed to buy the social media platform and then started raising doubts about going through with the deal. The next chapter in the saga is almost certain to be a court battle.
Musk claimed in a letter to Twitter's top lawyer that he is ending the deal because Twitter is "in material breach of multiple provisions" of the original agreement, which was signed in April, according to a regulatory filing Friday evening.
Musk has for weeks expressed concerns, without any apparent evidence, that there are a greater number of bots and spam accounts on the platform than Twitter has said publicly. Analysts have speculated that the concerns may be an attempt to create a pretext to get out of a deal he may now see as overpriced, after Twitter shares and the broader tech market have declined in recent weeks. Tesla stock, which Musk was planning to rely on in part to finance the deal, has also declined sharply since he agreed to the deal.
"The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement," Twitter board chair Bret Taylor said on Twitter Friday, echoing earlier statements by the company that it planned to follow through with the deal. "We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery."'
Twitter shares fell nearly 6% in after-hours trading Friday immediately following the news, after ending the day down 5%. Tesla stock gained more than 1% in after-hours trading.
Musk in May said the deal was "on hold" as he evaluated the number of spam and fake accounts on the platform - a reversal from his previous statements that he wanted to acquire Twitter to eradicate bots on the platform. Last month, he directly threatened to walk away from the deal, accusing Twitter of breaching the merger agreement by not providing the data he says he needed to evaluate the number of spam and fake accounts on the platform. In response, Twitter agreed to hand over its "firehose" stream of tweets.
Still, Musk's lawyer alleged in the Friday letter that Twitter has "not complied with its contractual obligations" to provide Musk with sufficient data, and said Twitter "appears to have made false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied" when agreeing to the deal.
For nearly two months, Mr. Musk has sought the data and information necessary to 'make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter's platform,'" the Friday letter reads. "This information is fundamental to Twitter's business and financial performance and is necessary to consummate the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement."
It continues: "Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information. Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr. Musk's requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr. Musk incomplete or unusable information."
This is developing story. This article will continue to be updated as more information becomes available.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Jul 9, 2022 1:10:13 GMT
Former and MAGA are not happy!!
***
That's the news..
Bannon caves!
Musk bails!
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pantsonfire
Drama Llama
Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy your life with those who you love.
Posts: 5,980
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Post by pantsonfire on Jul 9, 2022 1:12:18 GMT
My opinion...let him walk away and fine him big time. Poor business deal to let him buy Twitter.
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seaexplore
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,798
Member is Online
Apr 25, 2015 23:57:30 GMT
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Post by seaexplore on Jul 9, 2022 1:12:52 GMT
He’s such a double douche canoe.
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casii
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,517
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Post by casii on Jul 9, 2022 2:35:24 GMT
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Post by busy on Jul 9, 2022 2:54:07 GMT
I could not be less surprised if I tried.
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Post by 5peanutsnana on Jul 9, 2022 3:01:39 GMT
Funniest comment on FB. At least he's capable of pulling out of something.
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Post by hop2 on Jul 9, 2022 11:59:10 GMT
He’s just spouting out offspring all over the place |
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Post by lisae on Jul 9, 2022 12:06:33 GMT
I hope the deal dies and they find someone else. Surely there is someone who would step up and buy it or a reasonable price. I've been on Twitter a lot more lately and I like it. Less advertising than the Meta apps.
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Post by mollycoddle on Jul 9, 2022 12:07:55 GMT
Aw, looks like Trump isn’t getting back on Twitter any time soon. That’s a shame. /s
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maryannscraps
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,791
Aug 28, 2017 12:51:28 GMT
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Post by maryannscraps on Jul 9, 2022 12:20:31 GMT
I hope he's forced to pay the $1 billion to Twitter for backing out.
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lizacreates
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,856
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Post by lizacreates on Jul 9, 2022 17:27:46 GMT
I hope he's forced to pay the $1 billion to Twitter for backing out. That largely depends on who actually breached the agreement. |
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Post by mellyw on Jul 9, 2022 22:04:32 GMT
I could not be less surprised if I tried. Pretty much my sentiment |
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Post by gorgeouskid on Jul 9, 2022 22:33:05 GMT
I think it will be likely he will drop a few billion to entice Twitter to accept the end of the deal.
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Post by aj2hall on Jul 10, 2022 0:17:27 GMT
I hope he's forced to pay the $1 billion to Twitter for backing out. That largely depends on who actually breached the agreement. From the reporting, it seems like Musk ended the deal. Twitter stands to lose because now other buyers might wonder if something's wrong with the company. I hope he has to pay, too. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/07/09/twitter-elon-musk-deal/ |
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lizacreates
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,856
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Post by lizacreates on Jul 10, 2022 1:06:54 GMT
Ending the deal doesn't tell you who actually breached the agreement. Both parties have termination rights. That's why they have to duke this out in court. My explanation here is rather lengthy (I'm sorry about that) but I think you know me by now. Lol. Contract law is complex, but I'll try not to drone on and on. (And, btw, I'm neither a Musk fan girl nor a Twitter user.) There are lots of details that have to be discovered and clarified. It depends on the provisions in the contract. If the contract states that Twitter should divulge all accurate and proprietary data and methodologies (as they pertain specifically to determining the number of bots/fake accts) to the buyer and they didn’t, or they provided incomplete/insufficient data and processes, or provided materially misleading information, thereby causing material adverse effect, then Twitter is in breach. If the breach is uncured by a certain date, then Musk can terminate and not be held to the termination fee. The reason the bots issue is critical is because the site’s primary revenue source is third-party advertising. Humans buy products and services; bots don’t. So if Twitter’s bot count is high, then advertisers will not want to pay the advert fees being charged and demand lower prices. Since it’s to Twitter’s advantage to state that the bot count is low and their methodologies on determining this is secret, are they telling the truth when they say it’s less than 5%? I don’t know. On the other hand, if Twitter had indeed given Musk access to all USEFUL data including methods in reliance on his intent to purchase the company, sufficient enough that his team can reasonably verify the bot % themselves, then Musk is in breach. He also cannot back out of a deal without penalty just because of buyer’s remorse now that the stock is down to $36/share vs the $54.20 he agreed to. Which side is telling the absolute truth and acting in 100% good faith? I don’t know. The prevailing speculation is that Musk is doing this to force a renegotiation of the purchase price now that the stock has decreased significantly. That could very well be true. It’s fairly common in contract disputes that the target company agrees to lower the price just so a settlement is reached to facilitate the sale. Also, Musk is not the only individual involved because despite his wealth, he alone cannot finance this deal. He’s courting equity investors, so are those investors saying to him he needs to lower the price for a potentially larger profit in the future? Maybe. He’s also getting loans for the purchase and according to him those loans are contingent on the bots issue. Is he stating the truth? I don’t know. It could be true because the loan payments are presumably to come from his Twitter profits when he owns the company, and a high bot count would dampen ad revenue. A bank is within its rights (and is actually obligated) to ensure the sources of payments and thus, can and will add contingencies. On the other hand, this could be a ruse by Musk and no such “bot count” contingency exists. He could just be claiming it knowing contracts require specific performance, meaning as long as there’s debt financing, he’s legally forced to “perform” (complete the transaction), even if he wants out. However, if he can prove that Twitter is not disclosing everything that’s in the provisions and that action is putting Musk’s financing in jeopardy, then that nullifies specific performance. So, there’s a whole lot of things here I do not yet know the answers to. Thus, cannot say with certainty at all who breached. |
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Post by tenacious on Jul 10, 2022 2:44:35 GMT
Thank you, lizacreates! Great info!
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lizacreates
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,856
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Post by lizacreates on Jul 10, 2022 3:20:28 GMT
Thank you, lizacreates! Great info! Thank you. That’s very kind of you to say. |
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Post by aj2hall on Jul 10, 2022 4:49:54 GMT
Lizacreates, thank you for the detailed explanation. I always appreciate your insight, especially on legal matters.
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Post by hop2 on Jul 10, 2022 10:58:37 GMT
I hope the deal dies and they find someone else. Surely there is someone who would step up and buy it or a reasonable price. I've been on Twitter a lot more lately and I like it. Less advertising than the Meta apps. Does Twitter need another buyer? Were they for sale before Elon barged in with his hostile takeover attempt? |
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Post by lisae on Jul 10, 2022 12:19:32 GMT
I hope the deal dies and they find someone else. Surely there is someone who would step up and buy it or a reasonable price. I've been on Twitter a lot more lately and I like it. Less advertising than the Meta apps. Does Twitter need another buyer? Were they for sale before Elon barged in with his hostile takeover attempt? I just read that they were struggling so I assume they need a cash infusion. I don't keep up with all the social media platforms. Perhaps they have lost user activity to Tik Tok and other more popular platforms. I've had a Twitter account for years but am only recently finding it fun and somewhat informative. |
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