Musk’s Twitter ultimatum
Elon Musk said the Twitter deal can't happen until the bot account dispute is resolved. Facts, numbers and comments
New episode in the Elon Musk saga to conquer Twitter.
Tesla and SpaceX boss Musk said in a tweet that it will proceed with the $ 44 billion Twitter acquisition only if the social media giant proves that less than 5% of its users are bots.
Musk is carrying out a public negotiation for Twitter tweet-by-tweet to use the words of the New York Times.
And the social network just has to reply. Twitter "is committed to completing" the $ 44 billion transaction with Elon Musk "at the agreed price and terms," the company wrote in a statement. Twitter reminds that the acquisition price, which must be approved by the shareholders, is $ 54.2 per share.
Musk publicly backed off his initial takeover bid of $ 44 billion on Friday when he tweeted that the deal was "temporarily suspended" as he searched for more details on the platform's spam accounts.
His latest tweet came hours after Tesla's boss acknowledged at an event that a lower price was "not out of the question," adding to fears on Wall Street that is reconsidering its offer for the company.
Shares of Twitter fell 8% on Monday to close at $ 37.39. The price is well below the $ 54.20 per share that Musk agreed to pay last month to buy the social media company.
In light of this, analysts believe that Musk is using allegations that Twitter's user base has more bots than the company claims to withdraw from the deal or negotiate a lower price, especially now that the share price of Twitter. Twitter collapsed amid a broader market downturn.
MUSK'S LAST MOVE
“My offer was based on Twitter's SEC filings being accurate. Yesterday, the CEO of Twitter publicly refused to prove that "the 'fake' or 'spam" accounts were "less than 5%".
"This operation cannot go on until it does." Elon Musk writes it on Twitter. According to the founder of Tesla, fake profiles "could be much higher" by 20%, which already represents "four times" those indicated by Twitter. He said he believed at least 20% of the accounts on the network were fake and the percentage could be as high as 90%.
"It seems to me that Twitter should appreciate external validation if its claims are true."
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
THE TWITTER REPLY
Twitter "is committed to completing the transaction at the price and conditions established as soon as possible", replied the social media in the note informing the market that it has filed with the Sec, the American Consob, the proxy statement, an information document for shareholders which – underlines Twitter – “contains important information including the background and reasons for Twitter's transaction with Musk”.
THE QUICK AND ANSWER BETWEEN MUSK AND THE TWITTER CEO
Additionally, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal also wrote a lengthy Twitter thread yesterday defending the company's spam policy and explaining how it addresses the issue. Agrawal wrote: "We do not believe this specific estimate can be done externally, given the critical need to use both public and private information (which we cannot share)."
He added that "the margins of error on our estimates give us confidence in our public statements every quarter." First Musk responded with an unmistakable emoji. Then, in a second tweet, he wrote: “So how do advertisers know what they are getting for their money? This is critical to Twitter's financial health ”.
According to Axios , the spam narrative appears to be a ploy to withdraw from the deal or change its terms. “Musk could have requested a review of the company's accounts and anti-spam policies while doing his due diligence on the deal, like a normal investor. To suggest that the company's records are inaccurate implies that Musk thinks the executives are lying to the SEC, a serious accusation. If it weren't Musk, all of this would be shocking, ”concludes Axios .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/lultimatum-di-musk-a-twitter/ on Tue, 17 May 2022 14:35:56 +0000.