Twitter to Share Data at Heart of Musk Deal Dispute

Analysts have doubts about Elon Musk's notion of relying on subscriptions instead of ads at Twitter Britta Pedersen POOL/AFP/File
Analysts have doubts about Elon Musk's notion of relying on subscriptions instead of ads at Twitter Britta Pedersen POOL/AFP/File
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Twitter to Share Data at Heart of Musk Deal Dispute

Analysts have doubts about Elon Musk's notion of relying on subscriptions instead of ads at Twitter Britta Pedersen POOL/AFP/File
Analysts have doubts about Elon Musk's notion of relying on subscriptions instead of ads at Twitter Britta Pedersen POOL/AFP/File

Twitter will yield to Elon Musk's demand for internal data central to a standoff over his troubled $44 billion bid to buy the platform, US media reported on Wednesday.

The news comes just days after the Tesla chief threatened to back out of his deal to purchase Twitter, accusing it of failing to provide data on fake accounts, AFP said.

The Washington Post, New York Times and website Axios cited unnamed sources familiar with the negotiations as saying Twitter's board decided to let Musk access its full "firehose" of internal data associated with the hundreds of millions of tweets posted daily at the service.

"This would end the major standoff between Musk and the board on this hot button issue which has paused the deal," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a tweet.

Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal has said that fewer than five percent of accounts active on any given day at Twitter are bots, but that analysis cannot be replicated externally due to the need to keep user data private.

About two dozen companies already pay to access the massive trove of internal Twitter data, which includes records of tweets along with information about accounts and devices used to fire them off, according to the Post.

Twitter declined to comment on the reports but has defended its responsiveness to Musk's requests, and vowed to complete the deal on the original terms.

The mercurial Musk agreed to buy Twitter in a $44 billion deal in late April.

Twitter's top legal officer has told employees that a special shareholder vote whether to approve the buyout deal could be held in late July or early August, according to Bloomberg.

Musk began making significant noise about fake accounts in mid-May, saying on Twitter he could walk away from the transaction if his concerns were not addressed.

Some observers have seen Musk's questioning of Twitter bots as a means to end the takeover process, or to pressure Twitter into lowering the price.

The potential for Musk to take Twitter private has stoked protest from critics who warn his stewardship will embolden hate groups and disinformation campaigns.

US securities regulators have also pressed Musk for an explanation of an apparent delay in reporting his Twitter stock buys.

Twitter shares finished the official trading day slightly above $40, significantly lower than the $54.20 Musk agreed to pay when he inked the purchase deal.


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Apple shares fell nearly 3% on Friday after the iPhone maker trimmed its share buyback program and CEO Tim Cook warned of additional tariff-related costs of about $900 million this quarter amid a raging Sino-US trade war.
The Cupertino, California-based company that makes over 90% of its products in China said it plans to shift production of iPhones to India to minimize the impact of President Donald Trump's trade war.
"It looks like Apple is progressing faster than expected with its move to shift production of US phones into the region (India)," said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Analysts at Wedbush echoed this view, referring to India as Apple's "life raft supply chain" as the company navigates through tariff turbulence.
Cook outlined how Apple has started to build up a stockpile of products so that the majority of its devices sold in the US this quarter will not come from China.
“Tim Cook did his best to reassure investors on last night’s earnings call, but many likely came away still wanting more clarity about what lies beyond June," Matt said, adding that the $900 million hit to profit turned out to be smaller than many had feared.
Apple, which has been grappling with increased competition in key market China from rivals like Huawei due to slower rollouts of AI features, was already in troubled waters before the tariffs hit.
"The question for investors is what can replace China for Apple? This is not an easy question to answer and could threaten the long-term trajectory of Apple’s growth plan," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.
Despite electronics being exempted from US.President Donald Trump's slew of import tariffs so far, Washington has signaled that some levies could be imposed in the coming weeks.
Big Tech peers Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta Platforms beat quarterly estimates aided by artificial intelligence, while Amazon.com's cloud revenue growth fell short of revenue expectations.
These results were in stark contrast to dour forecasts from consumer electronics companies that are more exposed to tightening consumer budgets - chipmakers Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, and Intel.
Apple shares lost about 15% so far this year. That compares with a 2.3% fall in Meta, and a nearly 1% rise in Microsoft.
Apple's 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio is 27.63, compared with Microsoft's 28.64 and Meta's 21.48.