Musk Says Twitter Deal Cannot Go Ahead Without Clarity On Bot Numbers
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said his $44 billion takeover of social media platform Twitter will not go ahead until he has more clarity on how many accounts are fake.
In a filing earlier this month, Twitter estimated that less than 5% of its monetisable daily active users during the first quarter of the year were spam accounts or bots. However, Musk believes that approximately 20% of accounts on the platform are fake or spam accounts. He has also expressed concerns that the figure could be higher still.
“My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate,” Musk tweeted Tuesday morning. “Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does.”
After becoming Twitter’s largest single shareholder in early April, Musk declared a takeover bid for the social media platform, offering $54.20 per Twitter share. By the end of the month, Twitter had agreed to the deal.