Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover is on hold for now.
Musk tweeted on Tuesday that he wants some questions answered before moving forward.
“20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher. My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate. Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does,” Musk Tweeted.
20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher.
My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate.
Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%.
This deal cannot move forward until he does.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2022
Earlier in the day, current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal posted a lengthy thread discussing the number of bot and spam accounts on Twitter. He made it clear that Twitter’s estimate included public and private data that cannot be shared externally.
“The use of private data is particularly important to avoid misclassifying users who are actually real,” the Tweet said.
Musk asked, “So how do advertisers know what they’re getting for their money? This is fundamental to the financial health of Twitter.
Agrawal did not respond to this comment.
Companies and Twitter users occasionally use spam and bot accounts to boost their number of followers.
ReviewsXP.com recently wrote a blog stating Twitter users can purchase 1000 bot followers for around $27 from several sellers.
These accounts can be used for anything from writing political discourse to direct messaging other users with advertisements or scams.
The main issue for advertisers, however, is that the total average number of Twitter users per day is listed at 229 million and includes these spam/bot accounts.
According to SEC filings, advertised and promoted Tweets account for almost 90% of Twitter’s income.
According to The Guardian, Musk told attendees at the All-In Summit in Miami, Florida, on Monday night that he was considering lowering his offer price of $54.20 per share. This would reduce the total cost of the sale from the current $44 billion offer.
This represents the latest incident fueling Wall Street’s concern toward the deal, with investors believing Musk could renegotiate the sale or walk away entirely.
The Tesla CEO claims that he remains committed to the deal, which also requires him to pay $1 billion to Twitter if he chooses to walk away.
Since the potential purchase price of $54.20 per share was announced by Musk several weeks ago, Twitter’s stock price has dropped over 30%.
As of May 18, shares were trading at $37.29, nearly half the 52-week high of $73.34.
According to Financial Times, Twitter has stated that they are committed to the $44 billion buyout offer from Musk, suggesting they are not open to renegotiation.