Tech Roundup: Musk pulls the plug on his big Twitter deal
Scott Olson

Just when it seemed like a week would go by without any new drama to come from the saga between Elon Musk and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), the ongoing debate over when, or even if the controversial acquisition might be coming to an end.
And it's could be the opposite of what was anticipated when Musk's made his $44B offer for Twitter (TWTR) back in April.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Friday, Musk's advisers informed Twitter of the Tesla (TSLA) chief executive's intent to terminate his acquisition of the social-media giant. The main issue for Musk's move is a claim of a material adverse effects related to Twitter's (TWTR) reporting of spam and fake accounts. 
Musk's advisers said he was pulling the plug on the deal due to allegations that Twitter (TWTR) "appears to have made false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when entering into the merger agreement."
Twitter (TWTR) appeared to alleviate one of Musk's major issues about the deal by saying that spam or bot accounts make up less than 5% of its total number of accounts. Twitter (TWTR) said it uses both human reviews and research data to estimate the number its bot accounts. 
The number fake accounts on Twitter (TWTR) has been one of Musk's key sticking points with regards to finalizing his proposed $44B acquisition of the company. By the end of the week, the Washington Post reported that people close to Musk said the deal was in "serious jeopardy" because of the bot issue. Musk was reportedly said to be considering taking "drastic action" regarding the Twitter (TWTR), which could include seeking a reduction in the deal's acquisition price.
Since Musk made his $54.20-a-share bid for Twitter (TWTR) in April, the company's stock price has fallen by more than 31%, to around $37 a share. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said Friday that Musk's termination of his acquisition "is a disaster scenario for Twitter and its board as now the company will battle Musk in an elongated court battle to recoup the deal" or at least secure a $1B breakup fee from Musk.
Ives added that investors should expect Twitter (TWTR) to hit the skids early when trading begins Monday, as he estimated the company's shares will trade between $25 and $30 a piece after the weekend.
Even with Musk's acquisition taking center stage, Twitter (TWTR) managed to make a few other headlines during the week. The company said it was testing a new feature called CoTweets that allows two different account holders to author a single tweet, and there were reports that that Twitter (TWTR) has cut up to 100 jobs in its talent-acquisition team.
Elsewhere across the tech sector, semiconductor companies got a lift courtesy of Samsung Electronics. The South Korean tech giant said it expects earnings and sales for the quarter that ended in June to be its best since 2018, led by strong sales of memory chips to server customers.
The chip sector was also active following reports that STMicroelectronics (STM), and GlobalFoundries (GFS) would announce plans next week to build a new semiconductor factory in France. And Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) also reported strong sales results for the month of June.
Meanwhile, the Biden Administration was said to be considering new sanctions on certain equipment being sent to build semiconductors in China.
Also in China, the likes of Alibaba (BABA) and Baidu (BIDU) and JD.com (JD) got a boost during the week as the Beijing government was said to be considering a $220B stimulus package to increase infrastructure spending in the country.
It's still two months away from the next NFL season kicking off, but that hasn't stopped speculation growing about what the world's richest sports league has planned for its popular Sunday Ticket package. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told CNBC that the league is likely moving toward a streaming service when the Sunday Ticket package that is currently with DirecTV expires after the upcoming NFL season. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) were among the companies often cited as frontrunners for whatever kind of new streaming TV package the NFL has in the works.
And also in the world of TV sports, Disney (NYSE:DIS) was reportedly no longer considering spinning off ESPN as a standalone company.