The Week in Numbers: attack of the spam bots

Reuters Videos
Updated

STORY: From Elon Musk’s ultimatum over spam bots, to a rare rebuke for Jamie Dimon, this is the Week in Numbers.

GRAPHIC 5%

Up to 5%, or 20%, is the proportion of Twitter accounts made up of spam bots. It depends who you ask. Twitter says it’s the smaller number, Elon Musk thinks it’s the bigger number, and maybe more. Now the Tesla boss says he won’t go ahead with a takeover of the social network until he knows the real figure. Many Musk-watchers think he’s really just angling for a better price.

GRAPHIC 26%

26% was how much Target’s share price plummeted Wednesday. The retail giant reported quarterly profit was half what it made a year before and warned that rising costs could bring more pain in 2022. That spooked markets with the Dow losing more than 1000 points. Liz Miller is president of Summit Place Financial Advisors.

“It was interesting the effect this had just crushing our market today. You look at every type of company that is dealing with consumer goods and it’s getting decimated today. So, investors are rethinking and continuing to think what higher costs mean for consumers and our economy.”

GRAPHIC $52.6 million

$52.6 million was the stock option award to JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon last year. And that hasn’t gone down well with shareholders. On Tuesday less than a third voted to endorse the payment, marking a rare slap-down. Critics said the award lacked performance criteria.

GRAPHIC $30

$30 per share is JetBlue’s offer for Spirit Airlines. It’s a hostile bid, after an earlier offer was rejected. The move sets up a takeover battle with rival Frontier Group. On Thursday, Spirit Airlines urged its shareholders to again reject the offer.

GRAPHIC $39.5 billion

And $39.5 billion was the quarterly net profit at Saudi Aramco. That’s a record since the oil giant went public. Soaring crude prices were the big driver, with the same factor driving Saudi Arabia to a big budget surplus too.