Discussion

• @oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x

  “You are not supposed to say things that aren't true and that will affect the stock of a public company that you are trying to buy. That is what is usually called ‘securities fraud,’ or what I sometimes like to call ‘lite securities fraud.’” https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @billt Bill Thompson on x

  Brilliant, incisive and painfully accurate from @matt_levine “Elon Musk has made it very clear that the rule of law simply does not apply to him, and this has worked well for him. If he wants to ignore the merger agreement that he signed, he will” https://twitter.com/...

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  So smart as always and best line from @matt_levine: “What a stupid mess this is.” — What does it mean that Elon Musk's deal for Twitter is ‘on hold’? https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @bopinion

• @ericgeller Eric Geller on x

  “Contractually this is all pretty buttoned-up, and I think a Delaware court would have a ton of sympathy for Twitter and none at all for Musk, who is acting in the most transparent and smirking bad faith. But there is a lot that could still go wrong.” https://twitter.com/...

• @opinion_joe Joe Nocera on x

  There needs to be a special Pulitzer category for Elon/Twitter coverage. And ⁦@matt_levine⁩ has to win it. https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  .@andrewrsorkin asked me this morning what, if anything, the SEC might do to Musk for possible securities violations. Agency can't really fine him in a meaningful way. It could, however, try to ban him from being an officer of a public company. But that would be a BIG fight.

• @ron_miller Ron Miller on x

  Only billionaires can commit fraud lite. Tastes great, less filling. https://twitter.com/...

• @lrozen Laura Rozen on x

  “Elon Musk has made it very clear that the rule of law simply does not apply to him, and this has worked well for him. If he wants to ignore the merger agreement that he signed, he will.” https://twitter.com/...

• @nicola_m_white Nicola M. White on x

  Matt Levine bringing the 🔥 today: “I think it is relevant here that, in his efforts to buy Twitter so far, Elon Musk has violated all sorts of laws with no immediate repercussions.” @matt_levine https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @golikehellmachi @golikehellmachi on x

  i think the parallels between musk and trump when it comes to their “fuck your contract, see you in court” approach to business are somewhat under examined. https://twitter.com/...

• @lorakolodny Lora Kolodny on x

  1/ It's always entertaining when @matt_levine remarks on one of my stories for @cnbc. “getting 10% of the profits for being friends with Musk is nice work if you can get it,” he wrote... https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @caseyjohnston Casey Johnston on x

  oh? https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @coneee Conrad Quilty-Harper on x

  “Twitter's quick decision to sell at the first price Musk offered, with no protections for Twitter's culture or product, seemed to me like the actions of a board that doesn't really understand or care about the company and a management with no good ideas.” https://www.bloomberg.c…

• @carlquintanilla Carl Quintanilla on x

  “'Temporarily on hold' is not a thing.” The deal “allows Musk to walk away if $TWTR's .. filings are wrong .. but only if the inaccuracy would have a ‘Material Adverse Effect’ .. That is an incredibly high standard.” ⁦@matt_levine ⁦@opinion⁩ https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @mattdpearce @mattdpearce on x

  I am convinced Matt Levine is one of the most important journalists in America. His newsletter is a plainspoken, richly observed, lively and thoroughly footnoted daily journal about how when you're wealthy enough, you really can do whatever you want. https://www.bloomberg.com/...

• @mattzeitlin Matthew Zeitlin on x

  Levine: “You are not supposed to say things that aren't true and that will affect the stock of a public company that you are trying to buy. That is what is usually called ‘securities fraud,’ or what I sometimes like to call ‘lite securities fraud.’”

• @williamturton William Turton on x

  @MattZeitlin Also" “Musk had the opportunity to read these filings before offering to buy Twitter, and he had the opportunity to do due diligence on these numbers before signing the deal. (He declined.)”

• @mattzeitlin Matthew Zeitlin on x

  “As one merger arbitrageur put it to me, 'If you're reading the contract, you've lost. Lots of people reading the contract this morning.' Sadly I am one of them, and I do feel like I've lost.”

• @elonmusk Elon Musk on x

  Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users https://www.reuters.com/...

• @elonmusk Elon Musk on x

  Still committed to acquisition

• @elonmusk Elon Musk on x

  To find out, my team will do a random sample of 100 followers of @twitter. I invite others to repeat the same process and see what they discover ...

• @snoopdogg @snoopdogg on x

  May have 2 buy Twitter now.

• @jeffbezos Jeff Bezos on x

  Help me out. How do I edit a typo on twitter? Oh right...

• @mmasnick Mike Masnick on x

  World's richest man unable to find researchers who can teach him how to do a proper sample. https://twitter.com/...

• @snoopdogg @snoopdogg on x

  Everyone gets a blue checkmark. Even tha bots with 10 letters in their name that hit you in DMs n just say “Hello”. Nah fuck those bots.

• @sarahfrier Sarah Frier on x

  thank you @matt_levine. putting a deal “on hold” is not a thing https://twitter.com/...

• @btaylor Bret Taylor on x

  We are too. We remain committed to our agreement. https://twitter.com/...

• @claritytoast Nate Anderson on x

  I'm looking on the bright side of life this morning

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  I'm trying to think of a more obvious lie in the history of American business https://twitter.com/...

• @dinasrinivasan Dina Srinivasan on x

  fellow ad industry nerds, bet it's under or over 5%? it's like a free option to kill the deal https://twitter.com/...

• @maxkennerly Max Kennerly on x

  I can't wait to see what the Delaware Chancery Court thinks of “I sampled a trivial number of my own bot followers” as his excuse for trying to avoid the $1 billion termination fee. https://twitter.com/...

• @davidmweissman David Weissman on x

  I can support this. https://twitter.com/...

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  Hey @JeffBezos buy it and come to Code in September to tell us all about it. I'll bring @waltmossberg. https://twitter.com/...

• @oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x

  It's becoming clearer he just has no idea how this works. https://twitter.com/...

• @hblodget Henry Blodget on x

  Elon Musk realizing that 1) he overbid for Twitter, 2) it won't be so easy or fun to “fix” (there's already very free speech here and a lot of it is unpleasant, 3) he's already bored and ready to move on to the next thing, which hopefully will be more meaningful. https://twitter.…

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  Bonus (free!) Friday newsletter on Elon's exhausting machinations and what it's doing to Twitter https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  @LaurenSHirsch On that day, Elon's plane took a nine minute flight from San Jose to San Francisco. I guess it was rush hour, but lol. https://twitter.com/...

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  Elon secretly visited Twitter headquarters last Friday to discuss deal logistics. A week later, he said he wanted to put the deal “on hold.” Good get from @LaurenSHirsch. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @ryanqnorth @ryanqnorth on x

  Me running accounts for fictional people like Squirrel Girl might be partially responsible for Elon Musk walking away from the Twitter deal and having to pay a billion dollars in fees for that. You're welcome https://twitter.com/...

• @saschasegan Sascha C-Band on x

  So, you think Elon will withdraw his bid at 4:20 PM today?

• @fmanjoo @fmanjoo on x

  why don't bots get free speech too?

• @mikeisaac @mikeisaac on x

  for context on the 3am “on hold” tweet — Elon is likely the number one target of crypto scammers on twitter, who reply to every one of his tweets with links to scam other people out of $ or BTC OR impersonate him across twtr and FB it seems to deeply annoy him and has for years

• @parmy Parmy Olson on x

  If real, this is truly weird. Purging spam bots was Musk's top objective in buying Twitter. Now he's positioning himself to argue the problem is worse than he was led to believe? Twitter said they represent less than 5% of daily users. Musk now wants more evidence, “or else.”

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  Since this is all over my timeline I'll just add that I once met the guy who writes Snoop Dog's tweets for him. https://twitter.com/...

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  Well, he does have a VC fund... https://twitter.com/...

• @taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x

  [Image of the “Sickos Haha Yes” meme]

• @realspikecohen Spike Cohen on x

  This is called a post-stock-crash price negotiation. https://twitter.com/...

• @brij Brij Singh on x

  Looks like he is using all the tricks he thinks short sellers use against $tsla stock - round the clock chaos to the point of exhaustion. https://twitter.com/...

• @metaquest Meta on x

  Shorter: He's bored, broke and trying to tell us he's just now onto to the due diligence part. https://twitter.com/...

• @noupside Renee DiResta on x

  If this acquisition is halted because Elon didn't fully understand the real dynamics of bots - and the highly factional experience of twitter - that's a whole case study in itself. https://twitter.com/...

• @rmac18 @rmac18 on x

  My “still committed to acquisition” shirt has a lot of people asking questions already answered by my shirt.

• @dangoodin001 Dan Goodin on x

  This story was well worth the read last Sunday, when it was first published. Given Musk's announcement today that his pending purchase is on hold as he looks in to bots on the Twitter platform, it's even more informative. https://twitter.com/...

• @tomcoates Tom Coates on x

  As far as I can tell, if he can demonstrate this is incorrect then he can break the deal without giving Twitter the $1bn deal severance fee. Given the collapse in Tesla stock (a good proportion of which is because of his attempt to acquired Twitter), that may be his intent. https…

• @profgalloway Scott Galloway on x

  My date w/Sofia Vergara,,,is on hold.

• @danprimack Dan Primack on x

  Elon Musk's Twitter clown car https://www.axios.com/...

• @kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x

  Absolute worst case scenario for Twitter was always that this deal falls apart. Stock decimated, employee morale decimated. Looks like it's becoming more and more likely... https://twitter.com/...

• @williamturton William Turton on x

  Elon Musk logic is literally: I'm going to buy Twitter to fix the bot problem, but I am actually going to wait for a further analysis of Twitter's bot problem.

• @bplewis @bplewis on x

  The reasoning is about as real as the hair

• @carltonreid Carlton Reid on x

  Phone-dropped-by-accident-into-North- Sea and there-were-no-No10-parties level lie. https://twitter.com/...

• @obrien Chris O'Brien on x

  Amazing how un-critically the “on hold” comment is being repeated. They are in due diligence when what you do is literally ask for more information to evaluate the company. How has he put that process “on hold”? https://www.techmeme.com/...

• @seldo Laurie Voss on x

  Is he going to use this as leverage to renegotiate, or wriggle out of it entirely? https://twitter.com/...

• @stanhoraczek Stan Horaczek on x

  My lunch purchase is on-hold pending details supporting calculations that the sandwich will be less than 5% sun-dried tomatoes. https://twitter.com/...

• @maxboot Max Boot on x

  This seems like the real reason the Twitter deal is “on hold” (DOA?). https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @jjohnsonlaw Janet Johnson on x

  And just like that, he says the deal is back on. If Martha Stewart did this, she'd go to prison. Oh, wait... https://twitter.com/...

• @briannawu Brianna Wu on x

  The Twitter acquisition is on hold, according to Musk. Pretext is it's about bots, but I think it's really because Tesla stock is plummeting. Investors clearly don't want two companies linked, and it's a cynical public stunt to stop Tesla's bleeding. https://www.washingtonpost.co…

• @gtconway3d George Conway on x

  if I really cared about this, I would, as a former M&A litigator, get a copy of the merger agreement and start reading its reps and warranties and breakup provisions ... but honestly I don't care https://twitter.com/...

• @wfkars Daniel Summers on x

  I dunno, it feels like investing in something that depends so much on the whims of a mercurial egomaniac has serious downsides to me. https://twitter.com/...

• @ed_solomon Ed Solomon on x

  Me trying to cancel when I wake up & realize I bought $68 of bath salts while on Ambien https://twitter.com/...

• @will_bunch Will Bunch on x

  He should also gather details on how much his wealth has plummeted this last month https://twitter.com/...

• @patrickw Patrick W. Watson on x

  That Twitter has fake accounts was well known. More likely, his financing plans are being crushed by falling stock and crypto prices. Or Musk has been told to expect a long CFIUS review of his Chinese and Saudi partners. https://twitter.com/...

• @cliffschecter Cliff Schecter on x

  This is why I kept saying yes it made sense to sign up for other SM not owned by crazy ppl, but wasn't worth freakin out. It was always likely to fail bc of Tesla & Elon's, um, let's call it “emotional issues.”... 10% chance this happens at most. Pop a cork #ElonsProblems https:/…

• @parikpatelcfa @parikpatelcfa on x

  The Twitter board to Elon Musk https://twitter.com/...

• @willoremus Will Oremus on x

  Elon Musk doesn't control Twitter yet. Maybe he never will. But he has already steered it toward the right. https://twitter.com/...

• @loudmouthjulia Julia Alexander on x

  Everyone: “Boy, the market sure is volatile right now. Be carefu-” Elon: “Twitter deal is on hold” World: “...why?” Elon: “Spam! Not too bad? Worse? Gotta know” World: “Twitter stock is now plummeting-” Elon: “I'm still buying Twitter!” World: “Elon, please. The volatility.” http…

• @paleofuture Matt Novak on x

  He's created a great template for how other rich people can destroy a company without actually committing to that much. https://twitter.com/...

• @arashmassoudi Arash Massoudi on x

  Elon has now tanked Twitter's share price, with a pretty questionable tweet on Friday the 13th. By doing so, he opens the door to re-cutting the deal at a much lower price or walking away. Has anyone on Wall Street ever toyed with stocks like Elon? https://www.ft.com/...

• @carnage4life @carnage4life on x

  Is Elon Musk going to buy Twitter? yes yes yesyes yesyes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yesyes yes yes yes yesye yes yes yes yes yesyes

• @digiphile Alex Howard on x

  Today, @ElonMusk tweeted his deal for Twitter is “on hold,” but he's “still committed to the acquisition.” https://www.wsj.com/... TBD. FWIW, @Twitter estimated false or spam accounts are <5% of daily active users in 5/2022 — as on 2/2022. Musk may want to walk away, & TWTR lower…

• @andyostroy Andy Ostroy on x

  Jeez. Can he be more erratic? Having him run #Twitter would be like #Trump running America... #ElonMusk https://twitter.com/...

• @sarafischer Sara Fischer on x

  Musk's takeover bid has been wrought with so many twists and turns that Wall Street is beginning to feel skeptical that it will even happen. https://twitter.com/...

• @mims Christopher Mims on x

  Surprise! Not actually a surprise: Musk may be getting cold feet about buying Twitter. Walking away from the deal will cost him 0.4% of his net worth. He stands to lose much more if the deal goes through, because investors will punish Tesla's stock. https://www.axios.com/...

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  Like I said several times this week and last night on @TwitterSpaces, he's not going to pay too much for this muffler. The well known bots thing is a cockamamie excuse to tank them even more (shares were only being held up by overpriced bid since all of tech is in distress). http…

• @mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x

  [Image of the first picture of the Sagittarius A* supermassive black hole, taken by the Event Horizon Telescope project]

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  Oh look just what I said was about to happen — he's trying to price it down or walk away. https://twitter.com/...

• @deanobeidallah @deanobeidallah on x

  This is really why the deal is on hold: Since Elon Musk bid for Twitter we've seen Tesla stock drop from $1,100 a share to now $726 a share. He now would have to sell much more Tesla stock to finance deal. He's petrified to go bankrupt like Trump has. #ElonsProblems https://twitt…

• @0x Ezra ‘God’ Olubi on x

  twitter's ceo (whose job is likely hanging by a thread depending on how musk feels after the acquisition closes) already fired two product leaders in what appears to be acquiescence to musk publicly disparaging the company's product strategy. then this. https://twitter.com/...

• @alexweprin Alex Weprin on x

  In fact I think the spam accounts thing could be a prelude to a lawsuit, even if the real reason for backing out of the deal could be the rapidly declining value of Tesla stock, which makes the margin loan required to buy Twitter too expensive.

• @alexweprin Alex Weprin on x

  Technically, according to the details of the contract Elon Musk signed with Twitter, the company can force him to close the deal... as long as the financing is in order. But Musk has a lot of control over the financing! So right now, I'd say this deal is on the ropes.

• @psawers Paul Sawers on x

  I also suspect that Musk is probably wondering whether he can really be arsed with all the distractions and hassle that owning Twitter would bring. https://twitter.com/...

• @espiers Elizabeth Spiers on x

  I'm sure this has nothing at all to do w Tesla stock and crypto imploding. https://twitter.com/...

• @jeffjarvis Jeff Jarvis on x

  He's a destructive little boy. He never wanted Twitter. He wanted attention. He wanted to break everybody else's toy. Elon Musk seeks Twitter investors as Tesla sheds $400 billion in value https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @cristinacriddle Cristina Criddle on x

  Pending clarification of Twitter stats which say less than 5% of monetisable daily active users are spam or fake accounts. In its Q1 results Twitter said its estimation of these figures “may not accurately represent the actual number of such accounts” https://twitter.com/...

• @ben_mckenzie Ben McKenzie on x

  https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @paultassi Paul Tassi on x

  I too would be looking for any excuse to back out of a $44 billion purchase of a social media company after I realized it was clearly a bad idea that was tanking my other businesses https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @carnage4life @carnage4life on x

  It's increasingly likely that Elon Musk will just pay the $1B break up fee and move on. In the meantime Parag fired both the head of revenue products and the head of consumer experience during the latter's parental leave. I'm actually worried about the future of this app. https:/…

• @kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x

  Maybe Parag knew where this was going and decided to consolidate power yesterday 🤔

• @clairecmc Claire McCaskill on x

  Is this kind of market moving tweet allowed? Weird. 🤷🏼‍♀ ️ https://twitter.com/...

• @loganbartlett Logan Bartlett on x

  Elon trying to figure out what excuse will let him walk away without paying a $1B break-up fee.

• @garyblack00 Gary Black on x

  $TSLA +5.6% to $769 pre-mkt after Elon Musk temporarily put the Twitter deal on hold. Equities rebounded (SPX +1.0% NDX +1.6%) after Powell pushed back against speculation of steeper interest-rate hikes. 10yrTY +4.7bp to 2.89%. Risk sentiment improved as crypto prices stabilized.

• @wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x

  @elonmusk But that <5% are pretty targeted. They aim at accounts with large followings, such as yourself. This problem still needs to be fixed

• @markets @markets on x

  NEW: Tesla shares gain in premarket trading after Elon Musk says Twitter deal temporarily on hold https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @ankaman616 Carl Anka on x

  Benedict Evans once called Musk a “bullshitter who delivers.” Sometimes. https://twitter.com/...

• @parmy Parmy Olson on x

  Elon Musk taking a step that *could* lead to him walking away completely from his Twitter deal here, saying it's “temporarily on hold.” 👇 If Musk is looking for a way out, he may point to the proliferation of spam bots. https://twitter.com/...

• @parmy Parmy Olson on x

  Musk said a few weeks ago that he would “defeat the spam bots or die trying.” https://twitter.com/...? Now he sounds a lot less enthusiastic about that, because the ACTUAL BID hinges on how bad the spam bots are.

• @robtfrank Robert Frank on x

  So @elonmusk would walk away from Twitter with $8.4 billion in cash, after selling his $TSLA shares. Even if he pays the $1B breakup fee, it's $7.4B in tax-free cash, since he likely sold the stock purchased through options last year. https://twitter.com/...

• @arthurschwartz Arthur Schwartz on x

  Twitter is down 20% in premarket trading. Twitter execs & board need to spend more time protecting their shareholders and less time protecting democrats. https://twitter.com/...

• @matt_levine Matt Levine on x

  this is pretty obviously a joke no?

• @samro @samro on x

  $TWTR down 25% in premarket trading https://twitter.com/...

• @tbraithwaite Tom Braithwaite on x

  Oh look. He's grabbed the chute https://twitter.com/...

• @paraga Parag Agrawal on x

  A lot has happened over the past several weeks. I've been focused on the company and haven't said much publicly during this time, but I will now.

• @paraga Parag Agrawal on x

  While I expect the deal to close, we need to be prepared for all scenarios and always do what's right for Twitter. I'm accountable for leading and operating Twitter, and our job is to build a stronger Twitter every day.

• @kayvz @kayvz on x

  The truth is that this isn't how and when I imagined leaving Twitter, and this wasn't my decision. Parag asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction.

• @boo @boo on x

  I wanted to take a moment to thank all the teams and partners I've been lucky enough to work with during the past 5 years. Building and running these businesses is a team sport

• @paraga Parag Agrawal on x

  No one at Twitter is working just to keep the lights on. We take pride in our work. Regardless of the company's future ownership, we're here improving Twitter as a product and business for customers, partners, shareholders, and all of you.

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  I'm just now learning that Parag fired Kayvon while he was on paternity leave, which is truly awful. Parag is on his way out too. Why is he firing his product leaders during his lame-duck period?

• @joshbbornstein Josh Bornstein on x

  Should we set up crowdfunding to buy Twitter https://www.ft.com/...

• @rasmussen_poll @rasmussen_poll on x

  Hmm. Due diligence on subscribers wasn't straightforward & someone as skilled as @elonmusk wasn't going to accept the usual consultant assurances that they are fairly presented. Then this 🧵 below from existing mgmt. A rocky patch ahead. https://twitter.com/...

• @larakate Lara Cohen on x

  i'm telling you, don't count Twitter employees out — from our CEO on down. we are tougher and more resilient than you think. https://twitter.com/...

• @kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x

  Twitter CEO @paraga addressed the elephant in the room from yesterday's news: Why did he fire two top executives while the company is waiting for its Elon deal to close? 👇 https://twitter.com/...

• @mikeisaac @mikeisaac on x

  Twitter CEO thread after a few weeks of mostly (external) silence. https://twitter.com/...

• @alexeheath Alex Heath on x

  interesting that Twitter's CEO fired his two top product execs the day before Elon tweeted he was putting the deal on pause

• @adambain Adam Bain on x

  One of the best product leaders AND trampolinists in the business. (Thanks @kayvz for all of your work at Twitter!) https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x

  Hard to yell “please quit of your own accord so we can save cash for this sale and I can get my buyout” louder than this memo. https://www.theverge.com/...