| Good morning, Marketer, and the Musk tease continues. Elon Musk, who had already sought and then declined a seat on Twitter’s board, continued his mystery dance late last week by putting his takeover bid “on hold.” The ostensible reason, he wanted more information about spam and fake accounts. In a May 2 filing with the SEC, Twitter had said it estimated that spam and fake accounts make up less than 5% of its users. Not good enough for the billionaire, apparently. Twitter’s stock price stumbled at the news. Some have pointed out that walking away from the deal could expose Musk to a breach of contract lawsuit. But it might be fair to say that Musk is not well known for taking courts and regulators seriously. The reason this all matters is that Twitter has never fully decided whether to be a circus show or an enormously powerful communications platform. The latter — almost a public utility — looks like a great channel for brand marketing and messaging. But right now, the circus is in town. P.S. We have some top flight MarTech Master Classes coming up in June and early bird prices expire on Saturday May 21 at midnight. Kim Davis
Editorial Director | 