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Elon Musk Announces Twitter Deal On Hold

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Elon Musk sent shockwaves with a new announcement on his deal to purchase the social media platform Twitter.

Musk tweeted early on Friday morning that the deal was “on hold” in response to a story that showed Twitter claimed spam and bot accounts comprise less than 5 percent of its users.

“Twitter deal temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” he said.

Hours later he said, “Still committed to acquisition.”

“Twitter Inc estimated in a filing on Monday that false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5% of its monetizable daily active users during the first quarter,” the Reuters story said.

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“The social media company had 229 million users who were served advertising in the first quarter,” it said.

“The disclosure came days after Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk, who has inked a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, tweeted that one of his priorities would be to remove “’spam bots’ from the platform,” it said.

The news comes after it was reported this week that Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal is freezing hiring and taking other cost-cutting measures now that Elon Musk’s bid to purchase the company has been accepted.

The company will not make any new hires and could possibly rescind offers it has already made a company memo said, Bloomberg News reported.

Some exceptions will be made for business-critical roles, as determined by Twitter leadership. The company is also pulling back on costs such as travel, consulting, and marketing, according to the memo.

Agrawal said global events, including the war in Ukraine and the supply chain crunch, have hurt Twitter’s business results and may continue to do so. The company isn’t planning company-wide job cuts, “but leaders will continue making changes to their organizations to improve efficiencies as needed,” Agrawal wrote. 

“At the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the decision was made to invest aggressively to deliver big growth in audience and revenue, and as a company, we did not hit intermediate milestones that enable confidence in these goals,” the CEO said. “In order to responsibly manage the organization as we sharpen our roadmaps and our work, we need to continue to be intentional about our teams, hiring, and costs.”

And two of the company’s top executives, head of consumer product Kayvon Beykpour, and Bruce Falck, in charge of revenue, are both exiting the company.

“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,” Beykpour said on Twitter.

“While I’m disappointed, I take solace in a few things: I am INSANELY proud of what our collective team achieved over the last few years, and my own contribution to this journey.

“Twitter’s DAU has grown by over 87% since Q2 2018 and our team has shipped bold and exciting new evolutions to the product (like Spaces, Communities, Topics, Creator tools, Safety controls) at a much much faster pace than anytime over the last decade,” he said.

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“I’m proud that we changed the perception around Twitter’s pace of innovation, and proud that we shifted the culture internally to make bigger bets, move faster, and eliminate sacred cows.

“To the hard working (current and former) Tweeps out there who made all this happen: Thank you for pouring your heart and soul into this place,” the executive said.

“I hope and expect that Twitter’s best days are still ahead of it. Twitter is one of the most important, unique and impactful products in the world. With the right nurturing and stewardship, that impact will only grow.

“And congratulations to @jaysullivan. I’m grateful the universe brought us together and that you took the leap to join the team and take on new responsibilities quickly. I know Bluebird is in great hands under your leadership,” he said.

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“Thank you to @dickc for taking the bet on @periscopeco and bringing us to Twitter in 2015, and to @jack for the opportunities and trust you gave me since.

“As for what’s next for me: well, I’m still on paternity leave! Looking forward to my first break since co-founding @periscopeco with @joebernstein, and sinking my teeth into something new eventually,” he said.

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