Twitter-Musk acquisition controversy: Twitter reported a quarterly loss on Friday as revenue declined despite its growing number of users. The social media company’s latest quarterly earnings data offered a glimpse into how the social media business has fared during a month-long conversation with billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk about whether he will take over the company.
The company lost $270 million in the April-June period, when revenue fell 1% to $1.18 billion, reflecting headwinds from the advertising industry as well as uncertainty over Musk’s takeover bid. The number of daily active users increased 16.6% to 237.8 million. Same period a year ago.
Twitter chalked out the benefits of “ongoing product improvements and global conversations around current events.”
Overseeing Twitter’s latest sales results is its legal battle with Musk to deliver on his April promise to buy the company for $44 billion. Twitter sued Musk last week to complete the deal, and both sides are set for an October courtroom trial to settle the dispute. Given the pending acquisition, Twitter said it will not hold its usual quarterly earnings conference call or issue a shareholder letter.
The April–June fiscal quarter included three months of turmoil for Twitter, beginning with the April 4 revelation that Musk had acquired a major stake in the company, en route to his takeover bid later that month. paved. It didn’t take long for the relationship to sour as Musk publicly tweeted his concerns about Twitter and its employees and indicated that he was having second thoughts.
Twitter argued in court that Musk’s actions and his “repeated insults to Twitter and its personnel” created uncertainty that harmed Twitter’s business operations, employees and the stock price. It called for an expedited trial so the company could make important business decisions, while Musk sought to wait until next year because of the complexity of the matter and more demand for Twitter’s internal data saying it was fake and automated “spam”. “How is it counted? bot” – which he cited as one of the main reasons for trying to end the deal.
A judge this week set the trial for October in favor of Twitter’s concerns that too much delay could cause irreparable damage to the company. It will be held at the Delaware Court of Chancery, which handles several high-profile business disputes, until Musk and Twitter settle the matter before then.
The stock fell 2% before the opening bell on Friday.
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