KingData News: Elon Musk said that the social network will tentatively roll out a new multicolored verification system next week. The owner of Twitter said that, under this scheme, companies will get a gold checkmark, government officials will get a grey checkmark — probably similar to the “official” checkmark it’s currently trying out with some prominent accounts — and the blue checkmark will be dedicated to individuals even if they are not celebrities. That would mean that the blue check mark will be used with legacy verified accounts and folks who buy Twitter’s new $8 per month paid plan. Musk added that the company aims to manually authenticate all verifications before the new verification system goes live.

KingData News: As previously reported by Business Insider, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) holds about $100 million worth of Twitter shares. In response, Elon Musk, who just completed the Twitter acquisition, responded that the news was untrue.

KingData News: According to technology news site Platformer reporter Casey Newton, internal sources from Twitter say that Twitter has terminated the contracts of 4,400 contract workers, or 80 percent of the total 5,500 contract workers. The layoffs are expected to have a significant impact on content review and core infrastructure services that keep the site up and running. Full-time Twitter employees said they received no internal notice before the contract workers they worked with were fired.

KingData News: Elon Musk has directed Twitter Inc's teams to find up to $1 billion in annual infrastructure cost savings, according to two sources familiar with the matter and an internal Slack message reviewed by Reuters. The company is aiming to find between $1.5 million and $3 million a day in savings from servers and cloud services, said the Slack message. The steep infrastructure cuts could put the Twitter website and app at risk of going down during critical events when users are rushing to Twitter to consume and share information, such as during moments of crisis or major political events, the sources said.

KingData News: Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, spoke with the wealthiest man on the planet Elon Musk about joining his $44 billion Twitter acquisition, Bankman-Fried said Thursday at Forbes’ Iconoclast Summit, expressing optimism about Musk’s plan for the social media firm even though Bankman-Fried held off on joining the venture himself.

KingData News: Elon Musk plans to eliminate about 3,700 jobs at Twitter Inc., or half of the social media company’s workforce, in a bid to drive down costs following his $44 billion acquisition, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Twitter’s new owner aims to inform affected staffers Friday, said the people, who requested anonymity discussing non-public plans. Musk also intends to reverse the company’s existing work-from-anywhere policy, asking remaining employees to report to offices -- though some exceptions could be made, the people said.

KingData News: Large foreign investors would have access to confidential information about Twitter’s finances — and potentially its users — under the terms of Elon Musk’s deal to acquire the social media site, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. That revelation comes as Treasury Department officials begin looking into whether they have the legal authority to start an investigation into the purchase because of Musk’s ties to foreign governments and investors, people familiar with those discussions said.

KingData News: As to Binance's $500 million investment in Elon Musk's takeover of social media site Twitter, Zhao claimed that it was done in the name of freedom of speech. "We want to be extremely supportive of free speech," he said, adding that Binance's goal is "helping to increase the freedom of money. And free speech comes before freedom of money." "I fully expect that with Elon in charge, the speed of new features rolling out will be much, much faster," Zhao added, while cautioning that, "Not all of them will stick."

KingData News: Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has tipped 62% of Dogecoin (DOGE) investors into profit. In the past seven days, DOGE’s price has surged 98.5% to $0.119 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko. This means that as much as 62% of DOGE holders are “Making Money at Current Price” according to data from blockchain intelligence platform IntoTheBlock — which even beats out Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) hodlers at 54% and 57% respectively.

KingData News: Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of crypto exchange FTX, may cash in up to $100 million from Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter. The exchange executive owned about $50 million to $100 million worth of stock in the social media giant before the acquisition completed on Thursday, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told The Block. Musk paid $44 billion to take Twitter private, which would put Bankman-Fried's stake at around 0.1% to 0.2%. Bankman-Fried had planned to be part of the Musk-Twitter deal but ended up not investing, the source said. Axios reported earlier this month that the FTX boss told Musk he was no longer interested after a phone call between the two.

KingData News: CZ, CEO of Binance, tweeted: Our intern says we wired the $500 million 2 days ago, probably just as I was being asked about Elon/Twitter. And added that the wire transfer was done through the bank and not the blockchain. According to Elon Musk's revised 13D filing related to the Twitter acquisition, $7.139 billion worth of equity commitments were received, including $500 million from Binance, $400 million from a16z, and $800 million from Sequoia Capital. Previously, CZ said it would back Musk's acquisition of Twitter as promised.

KingData News: Elon Musk plans to assume the role of chief executive officer at Twitter Inc. after completing his $44 billion acquisition, taking the helm of the social media giant on top of leading Tesla Inc. and SpaceX. Musk intends to replace Parag Agrawal, who was fired along with other major executives upon completion of the takeover, a person familiar with the matter said. The billionaire is expected to remain CEO in the interim but may eventually cede the role in the longer term, the person added. Twitter representatives declined to comment.

KingData News: The S&P 500 is exiting Twitter (TWTR) from its stock market index on Nov. 1, days after it's being sold to billionaire Elon Musk. Global insurance, reinsurance and mortgage insurance company Arch Capital Group (NASD:ACGL) will replace Twitter before the markets open that day, the ratings firm said.

KingData News: Thursday evening, Twitter and Musk formally closed on the billionaire's offer to take the company private by paying $54.20 per share, equal to about $44 billion, sources close to the deal told Insider. The same evening, Musk also ousted CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal the sources said. Musk has been at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters this week. An all-hands meeting is expected to take place on Friday.

KingData News: Musk is inching closer to acquiring the platform. Amidst this, it was brought to light that TWTR was being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange [NYSE]. As per a recent delisting notice from the NYSE, TWTR would be ousted from the platform on October 28, 2022. Musk is expected to close the $44 billion acquisition deal before this weekend.

KingData News: If Elon Musk completes his $44 billion acquisition of the social-media platform, Twitter will add about $13 billion of debt. Analysts estimate, based on terms previously laid out in documents related to the transaction, that Twitter would be on the hook for annual interest payments of more than $1 billion, compared with some $51 million in 2021. Twitter has posted average annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of about $700 million over the past five years.

KingData News: Equity investors including Sequoia Capital, Binance, Qatar Investment Authority and others have received the requisite paperwork for the financing commitment from Musk's lawyers, Reuters reported. Banks have started to send $13 billion in cash backing Musk's takeover of Twitter in a sign that the deal is on track to close by the end of the week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Once final closing conditions are met, the funds will be made available for Musk to execute the transaction by the Friday deadline, the report added.

KingData News: Musk posted a video of his visit to Twitter headquarters and has changed his Twitter profile to "Chief Twit. Earlier, Elon Musk promised to close the deal for Twitter this Friday during a video conference with financing banks, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The banks will provide a total of $13 billion in debt financing for Musk's acquisition of Twitter.

KingData News: Elon Musk pledged Monday to close the acquisition of Twitter Inc. by Friday in a video conference call with bankers helping fund the deal, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The banks, which are providing $13 billion of debt financing, have finished putting together the final credit agreement and are in the process of signing the documentation, one of the last steps before actually sending the cash to Musk, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing a private transaction. In addition, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said he would continue to provide financial support for Musk's acquisition of Twitter.

KingData News: Elon Musk told prospective investors in his deal to buy the company that he planned to get rid of nearly 75 percent of Twitter’s 7,500 workers, whittling the company down to a skeleton staff of just over 2,000. According to Bloomberg, Twitter responded that there are no plans for company-wide layoffs.

KingData News: Binance and tech investor Sequoia Capital are reportedly still backing Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover bid of social media platform Twitter. Sequoia Capital already committed $800 million to the deal back in April. According to an unnamed source familiar with the matter, the firm will keep that capital allocation to support the deal now that the deal is reportedly back this month. Binance has also indicated that it will carry on with its contribution of $500 million. At the start of October, it was reported that Musk had pulled another abrupt U-turn by filing a notice with the Delaware Chancery Court on Oct. 3 indicating that he is ready to proceed with the “closing of the transaction contemplated by the April 25, 2022 Merger Agreement.” If the deal goes through, the purchase will be for the initially agreed upon $54.20 per share for a total of $44 billion.

KingData News: "I think a new social media company is needed that is based on a blockchain and includes payments," Elon Musk said in a text message just days before he offered to buy Twitter (TWTR) for $43 billion back in April. "I have an idea for a blockchain social media system that does both payments and short messages/links like twitter. You have to pay a tiny amount to register your message on the chain, which will cut out the vast majority of spam and bots," Musk said in a text message.

KingData News: Sam Bankman-Fried's advisor told Elon Musk the crypto billionaire was possibly interested in buying Twitter. Musk responded to the text asking if Bankman-Fried — whose net worth is $9.44 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaire's Index — had "huge amounts of money?" At the time, MacAskill said the co-founder and CEO of FTX was worth about $24 billion and would be willing to contribute as much as $8 billion to $15 billion. The five-day trial that will determine whether Musk will be forced to buy Twitter is set to start on October 17.

KingData News: Twitter (TWTR) shareholders have voted in favor of Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover bid for the social networking giant, according to Bloomberg. Shareholder approval was required for the completion of the deal. The takeover offer values Twitter at $54.20 per share. Musk initially offered to acquire Twitter in April, backed out the following month citing concerns about the number of fake accounts on the platform, and then sent his first letter in July that claimed Twitter provided false and misleading information.

KingData News: Elon Musk's can use a whistleblower's claims in his legal case against Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) but he cannot delay the trial over his attempt to walk away from his $44 billion deal for the company, a judge ruled Wednesday. The decision was made after a hearing held on the afternoon of the 6th. During the hearing, the two sides exchanged heated words on a number of issues. For its part, Musk said it needed a few extra weeks to review the information, so it requested that the trial be postponed from Oct. 17 to November. In response, Twitter accused Musk of trying to deliberately delay the trial and "create confusion" with more requests for document review.

KingData News: Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he sent a termination letter to Twitter on Aug. 29 after the July 8 termination letter was determined to be invalid. He said that Twitter's omission of allegations in the acquisition constituted fraudulent inducement, entitling the parties to compensation.

KingData News: Elon Musk’s bid to reveal the contents of the counter-lawsuit he filed against Twitter last week was rejected by the judge overseeing the bombshell case Wednesday. Delaware Court of Chancery Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled Musk’s counterclaims, answer and affirmative defenses to Twitter’s suit shall be made public by Friday afternoon, according to court filings.

KingData News: Twitter Inc. shareholders will get their say in September on Elon Musk’s proposed acquisition of the social media company. Investors will be asked to consider and vote on Musk’s $54.20-a-share offer at a special meeting scheduled Sept. 13 at 10 a.m. Pacific time, the company said Tuesday in a regulatory filing. Twitter said it had spent $33.1 million as of June 30 on Musk's proposed acquisition and that other than that expense, the terms of the merger agreement did not affect the company's financial statements.

KingData News: Delaware Court of Chancery Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick ruled in Twitter’s favor for an expedited trial to force Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the company. The five-day trial will take place in October.

KingData News: Twitter has formally sued Elon Musk for the previously negotiated $44 billion price tag for Twitter, according to a legal filing. This repudiation follows a long list of material contractual breaches by Musk that have cast a pall over Twitter and its business. Twitter brings this action to enjoin Musk from further breaches, to compel Musk to fulfill his legal obligations, and to compel consummation of the merger upon satisfaction of the few outstanding conditions.

KingData News: In response to Twitter's lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery against Musk for having to complete the acquisition deal as previously agreed, Musk tweeted an emoji in response. The text in the picture reads: They said I couldn't buy Twitter, then they wouldn't disclose bot info, and now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to disclose bot info in court.

KingData News: Bloomberg reported on July 10 that the company has hired corporate law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and will bring the case to the Delaware Court of Chancery, a non-jury trial court that deals with corporate law in the state of Delaware. However, it’s unclear whether the potential lawsuit will eventually end up with Musk purchasing the platform, either at the previously agreed price, at a re-negotiated price, or not at all. Last week, Twitter chairman Bret Taylor pledged to pursue legal action against Musk for trying to pull out of the deal, stating the board is “committed to closing the transaction” as previously agreed and planned to pursue legal action “to enforce the merger agreement.”

KingData News: Elon Musk has decided not to move forward with a $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter after a disagreement with the company about the number of spam and fake accounts. Musk claims that Twitter did not provide adequate information regarding the number of spam accounts on Twitter. "In short, Twitter has not provided information that Mr. Musk has requested for nearly two months notwithstanding his repeated, detailed clarifications intended to simplify Twitter’s identification, collection, and disclosure of the most relevant information sought in Mr. Musk’s original requests," reads the filing. Bret Taylor, chairman of Twitter's board of directors, said Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

KingData News: Elon Musk may soon walk away from his $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter because he believes he does not have enough information to determine the level of fake accounts. The world’s richest man claims Twitter’s spam accounts are not verifiable, the Washington Post reported, even after the social media giant in early June gave in to Musk’s demands to provide info on hundreds of millions of daily tweets.

KingData News: According to ABC News, twitter's board has recommended unanimously that shareholders approve the proposed $44 billion sale of the company to billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday. If the deal were to close now, investors in the company would pocket a profit of $15.22 for each share they own.

KingData News: According to Bloomberg, Twitter filed a proxy statement for the special meeting on the Musk acquisition deal, and Twitter Inc. said its board of directors unanimously recommended that shareholders vote to approve the merger agreement.

KingData News:In an interview with Bloomberg at the Qatar Economic Forum, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he is waiting for a solution to his proposed bot problem that accounts for more than 5 percent of Twitter accounts because it is not the experience most people expect from the service.Fake and spam accounts are completely different from bot accounts, Musk said. Musk said he will focus on driving products on Twitter, but doesn't necessarily plan to become its chief executive. In addition, regarding the recession, Musk says a recession is “inevitable at some point” and that it’s more likely than not that there will be one in the near term.

KingData News: Billionaire Elon Musk said it "makes sense" to integrate digital payments into Twitter (TWTR). "Money is fundamentally digital at this point and has been for a while," Musk said, speaking at a virtual all-hands meeting for Twitter. "It would make sense to integrate payments into Twitter so it's easy to send money back and forth." Musk, who serves as CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has an agreement in place to purchase Twitter for $44 billion. Despite some public wavering about completing the deal, the purchase appears to be on track, and Musk's attendance at Thursday's meeting suggests some level of commitment. (CoinDesk)

KingData News: Binance’s agreement to invest $200 million in Forbes is “changing” after a failed SPAC listing, Binance CEO CZ said in an interview. CZ reiterated that Binance still wants to make the investment, but gave no details of any changes to the terms.

Twitter Plans to Comply With Musk’s Demands for Data KingData News: On June 8, the Washington Post reported, after a weeks-long impasse, Twitter’s board plans to comply with Elon Musk’s demands for internal data by offering access to its full “firehose,” the massive stream of data comprising more than 500 million tweets posted each day, according to a person familiar with the company’s thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the state of negotiations. The move aims to end a standoff with the billionaire, who has threatened to pull out of his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter unless the company provides access to data he says is necessary to evaluate the number of fake users on the platform. The information could be provided as soon as this week, the person said. Currently some two dozen companies pay for access to the trove, which comprises not only a real-time record of tweets but the devices they tweet from, as well as information about the accounts that tweet.

Elon Musk Accuses Twitter of 'Material Breach' of Agreement — Threatens to End $44B Deal KingData News: In a letter sent to Twitter Inc. Monday, which was also filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Elon Musk’s legal team wrote: Twitter has … refused to provide the information that Mr. Musk has repeatedly requested since May 9, 2022 to facilitate his evaluation of spam and fake accounts on the company’s platform. “Mr. Musk has made it clear that he does not believe the company’s lax testing methodologies are adequate so he must conduct his own analysis,” Musk’s lawyer added. The letter notes that Twitter is required to provide the data Musk asked for under the merger agreement. Musk’s legal team further argued that the requested data is necessary to form a complete and accurate understanding of Twitter’s active user base, which is “the very core of Twitter’s business model.” The Tesla CEO suspects that Twitter’s refusal to comply with the merger agreement obligations could mean “the company is withholding the requested data due to concern for what Mr. Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover,” the lawyer detailed. Furthermore, the Spacex boss believes that Twitter is “actively resisting and thwarting his information rights … under the merger agreement,” the letter describes, adding: This is a clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement and Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement. (Bitcoin.com)

Musk Raises Total Stake Commitment to Buy Twitter to $33.5 Billion KingData News: Elon Musk dropped plans to partially fund his Twitter acquisition with a margin loan tied to Tesla stock, increasing the size of the equity financing of the acquisition by $6.25 billion to $33.5 billion.

Twitter Will Hide Tweets That Share False Info During a Crisis KingData News: On Thursday, Twitter announced a new policy for dealing with misinformation during a period of crisis, establishing new standards for gating or blocking the promotion of certain tweets if they are seen as spreading misinformation. “Content moderation is more than just leaving up or taking down content,” explained Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of safety and integrity, in a blog post detailing the new policy, “and we’ve expanded the range of actions we may take to ensure they’re proportionate to the severity of the potential harm.” The internet is full of viral half-truths, honest mistakes, outright lies, and other unreliable information. But in many cases, you can cut through the chaos by following a few simple rules. The new policy puts particular scrutiny on false reporting of events, false allegations involving weapons or use of force, or broader misinformation regarding atrocities or international response. Hoax tweets and other misinformation regularly go viral during emergencies, as users rush to share unverified information. The sheer speed of events makes it difficult to implement normal verification or fact-checking systems, creating a significant challenge for moderators. Under the new policy, tweets classified as misinformation will not necessarily be deleted or banned; instead, Twitter will add a warning label requiring users to click a button before the tweet can be displayed (similar to the existing labels for explicit imagery). The tweets will also be blocked from algorithmic promotion. The stronger standards are meant to be limited to specific events. Twitter will initially apply the policy to content concerning the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the company expects to apply the rules to all emerging crises going forward. For the purposes of the policy, crisis is defined as “situations in which there is a widespread threat to life, physical safety, health, or basic subsistence.” (The Verge)

Twitter Reportedly Tells Employees Musk Deal Not ‘On Hold’ KingData News: Twitter executives told employees the deal will proceed as planned and the company would not renegotiate Musk’s agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the meeting. Twitter’s Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal also told workers Twitter is regularly engaging with Musk and his team, Bloomberg reported. The report comes days after Musk claimed he could not “move forward” with the offer because he claimed Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal “publicly refused to show proof” that fewer than 5% of accounts on the platform are fake or spam accounts. (Forbes)

As Musk Tweets, Advisers Plug Away to Keep Twitter Deal on Track KingData News: In public, Elon Musk’s erratic tweets have sent Twitter Inc.’s shares flailing, as traders bet that the billionaire is preparing to walk away from or re-negotiate his $44 billion takeover of the social-media company. Behind the scenes, it’s more like business as usual, as advisers on both sides plug away at the day-to-day work of closing a megadeal. One potential sign that the deal is still on track: the 139-page filing that hit early Tuesday, detailing how the offer came together and Twitter’s rationale for accepting it. That document was the result of weeks of coordinated work by both Musk and Twitter’s teams, according to people familiar with the matter. Musk himself signed off on the final version -- complete with a deal price of $54.20 a share -- before it was filed, the people said. The situation is similar at the banks that promised to finance the transaction, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. While texts are flying among bankers in disbelief at Musk’s antics, their days are still filled with preparing documents needed to proceed with and close the purchase, the people said. Musk’s tweet last Friday that the deal was on hold came as a surprise to advisers on both sides who had no idea he might be having second thoughts, the people said. Some advisers said they were trying to dismiss his tweets as “noise,” and advising colleagues to do the same, hoping that the world’s richest man is providing a form of entertainment rather than seriously reconsidering his plans. A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment. A representative for Musk didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. (Bloomberg)

Twitter Board Says It Plans to Enforce Musk Merger Agreement KingData News: Twitter Inc.’s board said it plans to enforce its $44 billion agreement to be bought by Elon Musk, saying the transaction is in the best interest of all shareholders. “We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement,” the board said Tuesday in a statement to Bloomberg News. Directors voted earlier to unanimously recommended that shareholders approve Musk’s $54.20-a-share offer. The proposed takeover includes a $1 billion breakup fee for each party, which Musk will have to pay if he ends the deal or fails to deliver the acquisition funding as promised. Musk might be released from that requirement if he can show a material change in the company's situation or the information it has provided. The board's statement comes as Musk appears to be maneuvering to ditch or renegotiate his offer. (Bloomberg)