Twitter reported second quarter earnings that were below analysts’ forecast, which the social media company pinned on the uncertain status of an acquisition deal with Elon Musk.
Twitter’s loss of $0.08 per share fell below analysts’ expectations of a $0.14 gain per share, according to CNBC, while revenue of $1.18 billion fell short of the predicted $1.32 billion. The rough quarter was attributable to “advertising industry headwinds associated with the macroenvironment as well as uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter by an affiliate of Elon Musk,” the company said in a press release.
Musk has argued that Twitter’s disclosed number of false or spam accounts is inaccurate and claimed that Twitter has neglected to provide him with more precise information. In a July 8 letter sent through his attorneys, Musk said that the lack of user data justifies the termination of the acquisition deal.
“Mr. Musk and his financial advisors at Morgan Stanley have been requesting critical information from Twitter as far back as May 9, 2022 — and repeatedly since then — on the relationship between Twitter’s disclosed mDAU figures and the prevalence of false or spam accounts on the platform,” the letter said. “Notwithstanding these repeated requests over the past two months, Twitter has still failed to provide much of the data and information responsive to Mr. Musk’s repeated requests.”
Yet Twitter is currently trying to compel Musk, who also works as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, to complete the acquisition. The trial to determine the outcome of the deal is scheduled for October.
“Adoption of the merger agreement by our stockholders is the only remaining approval or regulatory condition to completing the merger under the merger agreement,” Twitter’s press release said. “The exact timing of completion of the merger, if at all, cannot be predicted because the merger is subject to ongoing litigation, adoption of the merger agreement by our stockholders and the satisfaction of the remaining closing conditions.”
Musk, the world’s richest man, has said that he does not “care about the economics” of the potential acquisition “at all.” He has repeatedly voiced frustration with the lack of respect for free expression on Twitter.
“It’s important to the function of democracy, it’s important to the function of the United States as a free country and many other countries, and to help freedom in the world more broadly than in the U.S.,” Musk said. “Civilizational risk is decreased the more we can increase the trust of Twitter as a public platform, and so I do think this will be somewhat painful.”
Indeed, Twitter has been known to censor conservatives and others who disagree with progressive narratives. Last month, DailyWire+ host Jordan Peterson was banned for posting his views on Elliot Page, who claims transgender identity.
“Remember when pride was a sin? And Ellen Page just had her breasts removed by a criminal physician,” the original tweet said.
“How could those I’m writing to make sense of what I was saying if it was his breasts that were removed? Were those male breasts or female breasts that were removed?” he asserted. “Elliot has undoubtedly with his/her/their so-called courage… enticed many a poor, confused adolescent — girl, most likely — to blame her emergent pubescent self-consciousness, confusion, and discomfort on being born in the wrong body and believing that the courageous, self-affirming, and moral admirable route is hormonal treatment, sterilization, subjugation to a lifetime of expensive medical complications, and misery.”
Source: Dailywire
