Elon Musk says Twitter deal will not move forward; suggests 20% of Twitter users are fake/spam accounts
Daniel Levi
Posted On May 17, 2022
As you may recall last week, Elon Musk said that Twitter’s deal is “temporarily on hold” pending details supporting the calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users.”
This morning, Musk said his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter will not move forward unless the social media giant shows public proof that less than 5% of the accounts on the social media platform are fake or spam.
In a tweet Tuesday, Musk said that “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.”
He added: “Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of 5%. This deal cannot move forward until he does.”
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
Meanwhile, Twitter has declined to comment.
As we reported back in late April, Twitter admitted in its quarterly earnings report for the first quarter of 2022 that it has been overstating millions of its active users since 2019. The difference in monetizable daily active users (mDAU) counted ranges from 1.4 million to 1.9 million daily users. The largest difference was found in the last quarter of 2021, the company said.
On April 25, Twitter agreed to sell the company to Elon Musk for $44 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing the proposed transaction.
The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter. Musk needed to use his Tesla stock to raise $21 billion in equity to fund his takeover of the social media giant.
Under the terms of the agreement, Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing the proposed transaction. The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter.
