Could Musk's Twitter Buyout Hit the Skids?
Tesla's CEO tweeted Friday that his $44 billion buyout of Twitter was "temporarily on hold." The purported reason: bot traffic.


Anyone who expected turbulence amid Elon Musk's quest to acquire Twitter (TWTR) got precisely what they anticipated Friday morning, when the Tesla (TSLA) CEO tweeted that the Twitter deal was "temporarily on hold."
TWTR shares plunged roughly 10% early Friday following Musk's tweet, which linked to a May 2 Reuters story about Twitter's recent statement that "the average of false or spam accounts during the first quarter of 2022 represented fewer than 5% of our [monetizable daily active users] during the quarter."
Musk later tweeted that he is "still committed to acquisition," which helped cut into the losses somewhat, though another seed of doubt was already sown.

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
"[Musk] is clearly intent in querying the company's estimate that spam accounts make up less than 5% of active daily users – a key metric given that establishing an accurate number of real tweeters is considered to be key to future revenue streams via advertising or paid for subscriptions on the site," says Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst for U.K. firm Hargreaves Lansdown.
But she also raises the possibility of an ulterior motive.
"There will also be questions raised over whether fake accounts are the real reason behind this delaying tactic, given that promoting free speech rather than focusing on wealth creation appeared to be his primary motivation for the takeover," Streeter says. "The $44 billion price tag [of the Twitter deal] is huge, and it may be a strategy to row back on the amount he is prepared to pay to acquire the platform."
That price tag might seem like even more of a stretch now than when Musk first got involved with Twitter.
"I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced," Musk said in April when he declared his bid for the social media platform.
Since then, the S&P 500 and the communication services sector have both declined by double digits, with many high-priced technology and tech-esque shares plunging precipitously.
Twitter, to be fair, is roughly flat since then. But this latest hurdle puts his once seemingly imminent Twitter deal even further in doubt among investors and analysts alike.
The market has yet to price TWTR shares at the $54.20 level Musk offered in April. Not even after Musk revealed earlier this month that backers such as Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and Oracle (ORCL) founder Larry Ellison were lined up to help provide more than $7 billion in financing.
As of Thursday's close, TWTR shares were trading 15% below Musk's bidding price. In Friday's premarket trade, that number was nearly 30%.
Wall Street's pros appear mildly skeptical the Twitter deal closing, too. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, the 27 analysts who currently cover Twitter have an average price target of $51.50 and collectively consider the stock a Hold.
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.
Kyle Woodley is the Editor-in-Chief of WealthUp, a site dedicated to improving the personal finances and financial literacy of people of all ages. He also writes the weekly The Weekend Tea newsletter, which covers both news and analysis about spending, saving, investing, the economy and more.
Kyle was previously the Senior Investing Editor for Kiplinger.com, and the Managing Editor for InvestorPlace.com before that. His work has appeared in several outlets, including Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, Barchart, The Globe & Mail and the Nasdaq. He also has appeared as a guest on Fox Business Network and Money Radio, among other shows and podcasts, and he has been quoted in several outlets, including MarketWatch, Vice and Univision. He is a proud graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned a BA in journalism.
You can check out his thoughts on the markets (and more) at @KyleWoodley.
-
The $33,000 Retirement: One Man's Surprising Path to Financial Freedom at 61
Forget what society tells you, even with less than $1 million, you can be happy in retirement.
-
The Best Aerospace and Defense ETFs to Buy
The best aerospace and defense ETFs can help investors capitalize on higher government defense spending or hedge against the potential of a large-scale conflict.
-
Stock Market Today: Another Quarter, More Mixed Price Action
"Up and to the right" remains the general trend despite persistent uncertainty around critical policy issues.
-
The Riskiest S&P 500 Stocks Right Now
Buyer beware: These are five of the riskiest stocks in the S&P 500 at the moment, based on one measure of volatility.
-
Stock Market Today: Wall Street Is Standing By
The waiting is the hardest part with trade war truce talks underway and inflation data on the way.
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Stable as Inflation, Tariff Fears Ebb
Constructive trade war talks and improving consumer expectations are a healthy combination for financial markets.
-
Stock Market Today: Good Feelings and Solid Data Lift Stocks
Resilience and de-escalation defined another generally positive day for financial markets.
-
Stock Market Today: Tesla Drags on Stocks Amid Musk-Trump Feud
Sentiment has soured between President Trump and his once-loyal ally, Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
-
My Three-Day Rule for Investing: And If it Applies Now
Stock Market I've seen a lot in my career. Here's what I see now in the stock market.
-
Is It Time to Invest in Europe?
Stock Market Europe is being shaken out of its lethargy, militarily and otherwise, by Donald Trump's changes in U.S. policy. Should investors start buying?