In April, Elon Musk offered $54.20 per share (valuing Twitter at $44 billion) to purchase Twitter. Despite this, the acquisition has been put on hold after Musk voiced scepticism that the percentage of spam/fake accounts on Twitter is less than 5%. Musk stated that the acquisition “cannot move forwards” until Twitter provides verification of the 5%-or-less figure.
When it comes to Twitter’s SEC filings, Musk believes that the original arrangement was predicated on the company’s claim that fraudulent accounts make up no more than 5% of the site’s active users. However, if this percentage rises, it will have an effect on the company’s financial position.
At an All-In Summit 2022 conference in Miami, Elon Musk said, “You can’t pay the same price for something that is considerably worse than they promised.” If Twitter can’t show its stats to his satisfaction, he may ask for a price decrease.
According to Musk, he believes that at least 20% of Twitter users are fraudulent and claims that Twitter’s CEO refused to offer proof for the 5% number. He responded by posting a thorough explanation of how the estimate was made.
In light of the important necessity to use both public and private information (which we cannot share), we’re not optimistic that this exact estimation can be completed externally. On any given day, it’s impossible to determine which accounts are listed as mDAUs,” says the CEO.
Twitter, on the other hand, insists that it will close the purchase at the agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share.