Elon Musk threatens to walk away from $44 billion Twitter deal

Elon Musk is threatening to end his $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter Inc, accusing the firm of refusing to give him information about its spam bot accounts.

Lawyers for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO made the threat in a letter to Twitter dated Monday that the social platform included in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Twitter was in a "clear material breach" of its obligations and that Musk reserves all rights to terminate the merger agreement, the billionaire warned in a letter.

This is the first time the Tesla billionaire has threatened to walk away from the deal in writing as opposed to airing it on Twitter's social media platform.

The microblogging site had previously downplayed Musk's warning that the deal was "on hold", arguing that the data would help him prepare for his ownership of Twitter, not to carry out due diligence and reopen negotiations.

Earlier in March, Musk said he would put the deal "temporarily on hold", while he waits for the social media company to provide data on the proportion of its fake accounts.

Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal has said the number of fake accounts is less than 5% when measuring daily users -- a figure the company has previously cited in quarterly filings.

"Musk believes Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing further suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data," according to the letter.

A self proclaimed free-speech absolutist, Musk has questioned the accuracy of Twitter's public filings about spam accounts representing less than 5% of its user base, claiming they must be at least 20%.

Musk said he needed the data to conduct his own analysis of Twitter users and did not believe in the company's "lax testing methodologies."

"Musk is clearly entitled to the requested data to enable him to prepare for transitioning Twitter's business to his ownership and to facilitate his transaction financing," his lawyers said in the letter.

Musk has said that he has lined up financing for the deal, through equity and loans, pulling in top shareholders including Saudi Arabian investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Sequoia Capital.

Twitter shares were down 5.5% at $37.95 in early trading.

Source

Elon Musk, Pune Software Developer And Their Twitter Banter

 Tesla CEO Elon Musk is highly active on Twitter these days, also it seems that he is fond of replying regularly to a Pune-based Indian Software developer, Pranay Pathole, who is working for Tata Consultancy Services.

On Monday, in a tweet Mr Musk said that he is not running Mr Pathole's Twitter account. Mr Pathole tweeted, "Many people think that @elonmusk runs my Twitter account. And it's TRUE. He's a super busy guy, building rockets, making life multiplanetary, building futuristic electric vehicles, digging tunnels. And somehow he finds time to run multiple Twitter account. YES ".

In response to the tweet, Mr Musk replied, "Haha I don't even have a burner Twitter account! I do have a cheesy secret Instagram account, so I can click on links that friends send me."

Mr Pathole has more than 1.6 lakh followers on Twitter. Mr Musk and Mr Pathole are friends on Twitter.

Mr Musk is often spotted replying to Mr Pathole's tweets.

Source

"I Thought We Were Fired," Tweet Said. CEO Parag Agrawal Replied

After Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk's hostile takeover of Twitter in a $44 billion cash deal, the internet is abuzz with speculations on what's in store for the recently appointed CEO Parag Agrawal. However, Mr Agrawal seems to be confident in his future at the company. At least that's what he seems to be trying to project through replies to Tweets on the issue. 

On Twitter user Suhail's empathetic post regarding the Indian-origin CEO's earlier plans for the social media giant, Mr Agrawal indicated there was no cause for worry and "what matters most is the service and the people improving it".

"I feel for the current ceo of Twitter (@paraga) - he had all these plans and now lives with the same uncertainty of his whole team," Mr Suhail tweeted.

The Twitter CEO responded with thanks and seemed to dismiss the concern. 

"Thank you but don't feel for me. What matters most is the service and the people improving it," he said. 

Mr Agrawal had last night laid out his vision for the company before he took over the top job and expressed pride in his colleagues who continue to work "with focus and urgency despite the noise".

"I took this job to change Twitter for the better, course correct where we need to, and strengthen the service. Proud of our people who continue to do the work with focus and urgency despite the noise," he tweeted. 

PromotedListen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

A parody account with the name "not Parag Agrawal" responded with "I thought we were fired". The Twitter CEO then clarified that his team and he were still there.

"nope! we're still here," he said.

Shortly after Mr Musk's successful bid to buy Twitter, the former CEO of the microblogging site Jack Dorsey had dropped a series of tweets, suggesting that he supports the move. He said Elon Musk was the "singular solution" that he trusted to "take it back from Wall Street and the ad model". 

He said Mr Musk's goal of creating a platform that is "maximally trusted and broadly inclusive" is the right one and is shared by Parag Agrawal, which is why he chose him as his replacement.

Source

Twitter begins negotiations with Elon Musk after Tesla CEO woos shareholders

Twitter Inc kicked off deal negotiations with Elon Musk on Sunday after he wooed many of the social media company's shareholders with financing details on his $4-billion acquisition offer, people familiar with the matter said.

The company's decision to engage with Musk, taken earlier on Sunday, does not mean that it will accept his $54.20 per share bid, the sources said. It signifies, however, that Twitter is now exploring whether a sale of the company to Musk is possible on attractive terms, the sources added.

Musk, chief executive of electric car giant Tesla Inc, has been meeting with Twitter shareholders in the last few days, seeking support for his bid. He has said Twitter needs to be taken private to grow and become a genuine platform for free speech.

Many Twitter shareholders reached out to the company after Musk outlined a detailed financing plan for his bid on Thursday and urged it not to let the opportunity for a deal slip away, Reuters reported earlier on Sunday.

Musk's insistence that his bid for Twitter is his "best and final" has emerged as a hurdle in the deal negotiations, the sources said. Nevertheless, Twitter's board has decided to engage with Musk to gather more information on his ability to complete the deal, and potentially get better terms, the sources added.

Twitter has not yet decided if it will explore a sale to put pressure on Musk to raise his bid, according to the sources. The people with knowledge of the matter declined to be identified because the deal discussions are confidential.

Twitter wants to know more about any active investigations by regulators into Musk, including by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that would present a risk to the deal being completed, one of the sources said.

Securities lawyers say that Musk, who settled charges that he misled investors by suggesting four years ago he had secured funding to take Tesla private, may have breached SEC disclosure rules as he amassed a stake in Twitter earlier this year.

Twitter is also looking into whether regulators in any of the major markets it operates would object to Musk owning the company, the source added. Were Twitter to establish that a sale to Musk would be risky, it could ask for a sizeable break-up fee, according to the sources.

The social media company adopted a poison pill after Musk made his offer to prevent him from raising his more than 9% stake in the company above 15% without negotiating a deal with its board. In response, Musk has threatened to launch a tender offer that he could use to register Twitter shareholder support for his bid.

A concern that Twitter's board weighed was that unless it sought to negotiate a deal with Musk, many shareholders could back him in a tender offer, the sources said.

While the poison pill would prevent Twitter shareholders from tendering their shares, the company is worried that its negotiating hand would weaken considerably if it was shown to be going against the will of many of its investors, the sources added.

Representatives for Twitter and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Sunday that Musk and Twitter would meet to discuss the acquisition offer.

The price expectations among Twitter shareholders for the deal diverge largely based on their investment strategy, the sources said.

Active long-term shareholders, who together with index funds hold the biggest chunk of Twitter shares, have higher price expectations, some in the $60s-per-share, the sources said. They are also more inclined to give Parag Agrawal, who became Twitter's chief executive in November, more time to boost the value of the company's stock, the sources added.

"I don't believe that the proposed offer by Elon Musk ($54.20 per share) comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter given its growth prospects," Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a Twitter shareholder, tweeted on April 14.

Short term-minded investors such as hedge funds want Twitter to accept Musk's offer or ask for only a small increase, the sources said. Some of these are fretting that a recent plunge in the value of technology stocks amid concerns over inflation and an economic slowdown makes it unlikely Twitter will be able to deliver more value for itself anytime soon, the sources added.

"I would say, take the $54.20 a share and be done with it," said Sahm Adrangi, portfolio manager at Kerrisdale Capital Management, a hedge fund that owns 1.13 million shares in Twitter, or 0.15% of the company, and has been an investor since early 2020.

One silver lining for Twitter's board is that Musk's offer did not appear to convert much of his army of 83 million Twitter followers into new shareholders in the San Francisco-based company who could back his bid, the sources said.

Twitter's retail investor base has increased from about 20% before Musk unveiled his stake on April 4 to some 22%, according to the sources.

Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and Kenneth Maxwell.

Source