Tesla CEO Elon Musk is pushing Twitter to stop him from buying the company. He said that his deal to purchase the company cannot proceed unless Twitter can show public proof that less then 5% of accounts are fake or spam.
Musk posted a series tweets Tuesday asking users to comment on the presence of bots on Twitter. He also called on government regulators for an investigation.
Musk tweeted overnight that 20% of fake/spam accounts were 4x more than what Twitter claims. But, it could be much higher. My offer was based upon Twitter’s SEC filings being correct.
He tweeted a poll to his 93,000,000 followers on Tuesday afternoon. “Twitter claims >95% of daily active user are real, unique people.” Has anyone had that experience? One reply indicated laughter, while another showed a bot.
Musk also tweeted the Securities and Exchange Commission in response to another user, who suggested that the SEC investigate Twitter bot statistics. “Hello @SECGov. Anyone home?” Musk stated.
He said, “Yesterday Twitter’s CEO publicly denied proof of 5%. He must do so before this deal can move forward.”
Musk spent the day with Parag Agrawal (Twitter CEO), in a heated exchange. He posted a series tweets outlining his company’s efforts to combat bots and how it has consistently found that less than 5 percent of Twitter accounts are fake.
It is important to use private data in order not to misclassify users who are real. FirstnameBunchOfNumbers with no profile pic and odd tweets might seem like a bot or spam to you, but behind the scenes we often see multiple indicators that it’s a real person.
Musk, who demanded that Twitter validate its estimates, responded to Agrawal using a poop emoticon.
Musk’s latest attack on Twitter is the anthropomorphic emoticon, which he claims he will eliminate from it.
Musk said Monday that at least 20% of Twitter’s 229 million accounts were spam bots at a Miami technology conference. This was according to a Bloomberg News report.
Last week, Musk posted that the Twitter deal was being held pending confirmation from the company that spam accounts make up less that 5% of all users.
Musk also indicated at the All In Summit that he would prefer to pay less for Twitter than his $44 billion offer last month.
According to Bloomberg’s report, he said that a viable deal would be possible at a lower cost. Bloomberg also said that it had viewed a livestream video from the conference, posted by a user on Twitter.
Analysts believe Musk’s comments will bolster their view that the billionaire wants to either exit the deal or buy the company for a lower price. Musk’s tweet Tuesday was in response to a Tesla news article speculating that Musk may be seeking a better Twitter deal because $44 billion seems excessive.
In a note to investors, Dan Ives, a Wedbush Securities analyst commented that the spam/bot issue was “cascading” and making the Twitter deal confusing. The bot issue at the end was well-known by the New York City taxi driver. It feels more like a ‘dog ate homework’ excuse to bail out on the Twitter deal, or to negotiate a lower price.
Twitter stated in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that it will close the deal at the agreed price and terms. It is subject to approval by Twitter stockholders. The deal is expected to close in 2022. The board of directors at Twitter unanimously recommended that shareholders approve the deal.
Ives stated that the Twitter board is in a difficult spot. If they refuse to accept a lower price (after negotiations over the bot issue scrutiny over coming weeks), and Musk walks, then the stock will likely see a drop of $30 with a broken deal in this uncertain market backdrop.”
Musk offered to purchase Twitter for $54.20 per Share, or roughly $10 more than the stock’s current trading price. Since then, Twitter shares have fallen and now trade at $38.00 per share.
He pledged some of his Tesla shares to finance the acquisition. They have fallen by a third in value since the announcement.
