Musk second-thoughts Twitter, then restates commitment, plunging share
2 Min Read
Musk toys with the share prices in tweets.
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Elon Musk
On Friday morning, Elon Musk tweeted that his $44 billion deal to purchase Twitter "is temporarily on hold," seeking more details on whether Twitter's spam and fake accounts make up less than 5% of users.
After he made his announcement, the company's shares plunged by more than 17% - however, Tesla's shares rose up 5%.
Read more: Musk sells $4 billion in Tesla shares after Twitter deal
"Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users," he said.
Just a while ago, Musk said he is committed to buying Twitter again.
Still committed to acquisition
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2022
"Still committed to acquisition," wrote Musk, after an earlier message saying the deal was "temporarily on hold" had seen the firm's share value plunge.
With Musk's twists and turns in his takeover bid, Wall Street is starting to feel skeptical that it would ever take place.
Read more: Twitter adopts 'poison pill' plan to prevent Musk hostile takeover
Just yesterday, it was reported that Musk declared his investment in Twitter much later than he should have, which allowed him to buy more stock than allowed. Investors, upon purchasing more than 5% of sa company, must declare their investment as there may be attempts from the buyer to gain control or influence the firm.
However, it is not 'control' or 'influence' that Musk was after as much as it was saving millions of dollars by declaring his heavy investment late.
Daniel Taylor, a University of Pennsylvania accounting professor, said that Musk likely saved more than $143 million by not revealing that his trades had crossed the 5% barrier because the stock price would have been higher if the market had known about the billionaire's rising interest.
The tweet comes just a day after Twitter's CEO fires 2 of the company's top executives and put hiring on halt.
A looming takeover bid is pressuring Twitter to become more innovative and profitable - internally, according to a source to Axios, are exasperated by what is happening.
