The future of Twitter hanging on Elon Musk’s procrastination – Le Figaro

The billionaire’s team increases uncertainty over the takeover by stopping negotiations with an investor. Go or not go? Uncertainty over the outcome of the takeover of Twitter by billionaire Elon Musk has risen a notch since information from the Washington Post evoking interrupted discussions around the financing of the operation. According to three sources close to this very sensitive file, Musk’s team would no longer participate in certain negotiations, “in particular with a party designated as a probable financial backer”, writes the American daily. At the heart of the problem, the exact share of “fake accounts” among Twitter customers. According to Elon Musk, the figure of “less than 5%” advanced by Twitter is unverifiable in the state of the data to which he has access. His team therefore believes that they do not have sufficient information to assess Twitter’s prospects as a company, even after having analyzed a new burst of data communicated by the network. Read alsoElon Musk casts doubt on his takeover of Twitter For its part, Twitter, which claims to remove a million fake accounts a day, had convened a small circle of journalists on Thursday to explain its accounting method based, among other things, on the verification of certain IP addresses, which it cannot disclose to a third party. Weakened society According to several observers, the case of false accounts, as important as it is, is not the only motivation of the camp of Elon Musk to seek to reconsider the agreement to 44 billion dollars. Since the announcement on April 25, Twitter action has lost 25% and all technology stocks – including Tesla – have been shaken. In addition to a price that may now seem too high, the billionaire has seen part of his fortune pledged to finance the cropped operation. If he persists in this way, Elon Musk will have to legally prove that the reason for the false accounts can enter into the scenarios likely to call into question the signed agreement. And will have to pay up to 1 billion dollars in compensation for breach of contract. Read alsoThe acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk triggers a political and media storm Twitter, he wants and must now absolutely be able to complete this takeover. It’s about his future. This operation weakened him on several levels. In a difficult economic context, the controversy surrounding the veracity of its figures has increased its commercial pressure. Twitter has laid off 30% of its talent acquisition team, after pausing hiring like many other companies in the industry. However, many internal managerial movements had already put the organization and the working atmosphere to the test. “Although I expect the sale to be completed, we must be prepared for all scenarios,” tweeted Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, on May 13. Today more than ever. SEE ALSO – Elon Musk had twins with a leader of his start-up Neuralink SEE ALSO – “I was strict, my word was the law”: Elon Musk’s father recounts his son’s childhood