Elon Musk showed his command of gamesmanship and social media trolling Monday with a pair of memes.
On Friday, Musk notified Twitter that he was no longer interested in buying the company, citing the company’s refusal to give him all the information he wanted on the subject of fake accounts. Musk claims the number far exceeds the 5 percent of accounts to which Twitter admits. Twitter fired back by saying they plan to sue Musk to force him to go through with the $44 billion purchase of the social media platform.
Musk’s only public comment on the legal battle came in a pair of memes he posted to Twitter Monday.
In one, he showed his reaction to the various complications along the way of his battle with Twitter, with a smiling Musk getting what appears to be the last laugh.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2022
“They said I couldn’t buy Twitter, then they wouldn’t disclose bot info,” the meme says. “Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court, now they have to disclose bot info in court,” the meme’s text reads.
Musk also posted another meme with a photo of actor and martial arts champion Chuck Norris sitting by a chessboard. The meme was captioned “Chuckmate.”
Chuckmate
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2022
As with many of Musk’s tweets, the specific reference was not clear.
Many commentators said Twitter has been damaged by Musk’s recent actions.
“This is a ‘code red’ situation for Twitter and its Board as now the company will battle Musk in an elongated court battle to recoup the deal and/or the breakup fee of $1 billion at a minimum. We see no other bidders emerging at this time while legal proceedings play out in the courts,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to clients, according to Yahoo finance.
Twitter stock was down 6 percent Monday morning, which equates to a $1.8 billion drop in market value for the company, according to CNBC.
Yahoo Finance Editor Brian Sozzi opined that “Twitter’s stock is probably dead money for the foreseeable future following Musk’s iron fist slamming down on the social media platform.”
His leading reason: “Wall Street won’t trust Twitter’s operating metrics in light of the fake account debate.”
Richard Windsor, the founder of the research company Radio Free Mobile, told CNBC he thinks Musk dropped the deal because Musk wanted a lower price than the $54.20 per share of stock he had agreed to.
He said Twitter stock is now more than 30 percent lower than when Musk made his offer.
Will this deal ever be put back together?
“There is still a disconnect between the fundamentals and the share price,” Windsor said.
“If you look at some of where the technology sector has gone over the last couple of months, you could put Twitter’s valuation somewhere between $13 to $15 billion, which is around about roughly 50% below even where the share price is today,” he said.
