Noted short-seller firm Hindenburg Research has accumulated a significant long position in Twitter amidst the social media company’s legal efforts to enforce Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition. By doing so, Hindenburg has taken a stand against Musk.
In a post on Twitter, Hindenburg noted that Twitter’s complaint “poses a credible threat to Musk’s empire.” The short-seller firm’s sentiments seem to be in line with some of Twitter’s investors, as TWTR stock rose 6.8% mid-morning on Wednesday to $36.38 following Hindenburg’s tweet.
Interestingly enough, Hindenburg Research actually bet against Twitter back in May. At the time, the short-seller firm noted that Musk “holds all the cards” in the Twitter deal. The firm also noted that Musk could threaten to terminate his Twitter acquisition efforts to force the social media company’s Board to lower the buyout price.
“Musk holds all the cards here. If Elon Musk’s bid for Twitter disappeared tomorrow, Twitter’s equity would fall by 50% from current levels. Consequently, we see a significant risk that the deal gets repriced lower,” the firm wrote then.
Not long after Hindenburg’s announcement of its Twitter stance, Musk announced that he was putting his acquisition efforts on hold. This resulted in Twitter’s stock price falling and Hindenburg Research founder Nate Anderson taking a victory lap.
Considering that legal analysts are predicting that Twitter would have the upper hand in its legal efforts against Musk, however, it appears that Hindenburg’s take on the matter has changed. And just like in May, the short seller firm seems to be putting its foot where its mouth is.
Hindenburg Research’s track record is quite notable, and some of its efforts have proven to be market-moving. The short-seller firm is credited for exposing some of the allegedly fraudulent activities in companies like Nikola and Lordstown, both of which took heavy blows following Hindenburg’s report.
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