A few weeks ago, eccentric entrepreneur Elon Musk put in a $44 billion bid to acquire Twitter (TWTR). Talk of this takeover upended the news cycle for what seemed like days, with media outlet after media outlet discussing the offer’s impact.

It wasn’t just the business side of things that were analyzed either. The political implications were debated ad nauseum as well. Activists and employees alike either celebrated or panicked over Elon’s upcoming rule of the world’s digital town square.

Yet perhaps it was all for nothing, as said individual might be having second thoughts.

The potential Twitter owner expressed concerns late last week over the authenticity of the social media site’s user base. As Yahoo News explained:

“In a tweet sent early Friday morning, Musk said the Twitter deal was on hold until he could verify the site’s estimate that fake or spam accounts represent less than 5% of users…

“On Friday evening, Musk announced how his team would evaluate the estimate.

“‘To find out, my team will do a random sample of 100 followers of @twitter,’ Musk said in a tweet, referring to the platform’s own account, which has more than 61 million followers. ‘I invite others to repeat the same process and see what they discover.’”

For those who need the reminder, the company itself released its Q1 earnings last month. That’s where it estimated that fake or spam accounts made up fewer than 5% of its active users. These approximations, it said, were founded on a study of sample accounts and appeared “reasonable.”

While Elon made it clear he still has designs on acquiring the company regardless, his initial tweet was enough to send Twitter stocks down over 20% in Friday’s pre-market trading.

Yikes.

I should also mention that Musk has been accused of violating an NDA for that very public expression of doubt – including to his 93.3 million Twitter followers.

That’s why some people are speculating that he could be feeling the pangs of buyer’s remorse. What seems much more obvious is that he’s not going to let this acquisition get the better of him.

I suppose it shouldn’t come as any surprise that he’s being so showy about the whole thing (just look at his feud with Jeff Bezos). Again, it’s only in question whether this is some strange negotiation strategy…

Or genuine concern that Twitter isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?

More Non-REIT News to Know About

Speaking of Bezos…

The former Amazon (AMZN) CEO took to Twitter the other day to retweet President Biden’s criticism of big businesses not paying “their fair share.”

“The newly created Disinformation Board should review this tweet, or maybe they need to form a new Non Sequitur Board instead. Raising corp taxes is fine to discuss. Taming inflation is critical to discuss. Mushing them together is just misdirection.”

That’s an interesting criticism considering how it comes from someone who seemed very much onboard with Biden’s policies before. But he’s not the only one who’s turning coat (or at least appearing to).

There are plenty of people out there saying that it’s not only bad politics to lump these two issues together but also irrelevant. In this economy, they say, the last thing we want to do is overtax businesses that are struggling just to keep their doors open – no matter how big or wealthy you believe them to be.

As for me, I definitely think it’s fair to bring this issue up for discussion. However, I can’t see a correlation between a quick-fix for inflation and raising corporate taxes.

The World According to REITs 

It’s Monday which means you’re back at the office, (hopefully) ready to rock after a restful weekend. Preparing for the work week ahead inspired me to investigate a couple of office REITs… ones that have shown significant results in this first quarter.

For those unfamiliar with them, office REITs are some of the most sound investments you can make in the real estate game. They offer excellent tax incentives and incredible dividend potential. And they usually boast decent occupancy rates.

So let’s check some out.

Slate Office

Slate Office (SOT.UN) is an owner and operator of high-quality workplace real estate out of Toronto. Aside from having a cool name, it closed the quarter with significant growth and a 23-property acquisition.

That naturally enhanced occupancy and weighted average lease terms, and increased its exposure to high-quality credit tenants from 61.3% to 67%.

With momentum from the global get-back-to-work attitude, Slate was able to operate opportunistically to develop a pipeline of portfolio enhancements and actionable opportunities for growth.

Its revenue for the quarter was up 10%, net operating income (NOI) rose 11%, and funds from operations (FFO) increased 2.3%.

Boston Properties

The REIT world was built on companies like Boston Properties (BXP). As the largest publicly listed developer, owner, and trader of Class A office properties in the U.S., BXP boasts a $19.5 billion market cap and assets all over the country.

In the first quarter of 2022, this powerhouse entity exceeded expectations with earnings per share of $0.91 and FFO per share of $1.82. Revenue was up nearly $8 million, and it just signed a 570,000 rentable square foot lease with AstraZeneca for a future life sciences development in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Basically, it doesn’t get much bigger than Boston Properties.