Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter deal has become even more uncertain after saying on Saturday that the price offer should be decreased by the number of fake accounts on the platform and calling the social app's lack of explanation over its estimates "very suspicious."
"Very Suspicious"
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO agreed with Ian Miles Cheong, a conservative commentator, who tweeted that if 25% of Twitter's users are bots, therefore, Elon Musk's acquisition deal should cost 25% less as well.
Reducing the $44 billion deal would mean the value of the offer would be decreased to $33 billion. This would be far closer to Twitter's market value, which is only under $30 billion, according to the Business Insider.
The deal is currently on hold due to an impending investigation by Musk's team on the number of bots found in the bird app.
Musk has also expressed distrust at Twitter's willingness to acknowledge the existence of bots on their platform, he tweeted, " I'm worried that Twitter has a disincentive to reduce spam, as it reduces perceived daily users."
He added that Twitter's team has still refused to elaborate how they were able to calculate that there are 5% of fake/spam daily users in the app. He said that the company's inability to explain was "very suspicious."
The uncertainty of the deal might loom even deeper after a report by SparkToro claimed that around 11 million Twitter accounts following President Joe Biden's account are either fake or inactive. SparkToro claimed that this is almost 50% of @POTUS followers.
More notably, Twitter's stock has also been falling down ever since he announced his takeover of the company, miring the prospect of more investments once he officially owns the app.
The billionaire even revealed in an event that he could renegotiate the acquisition at a lower price.
His Twitter takeover might have also played as a factor of him losing $12.3 billion last Thursday. In total, the billionaire has lost around $49 billion since his Twitter bid because investors of Tesla were concerned how he would fund his takeover.
What Happens if Musk Quits the Deal?
Musk said last week that the transparency on the number of fake or spam accounts will be a key factor if his pending purchase of Twitter would push through.
He had also suggested taking a sample of 100 users to test the number of bots on the social app, which allegedly broke an NDA with Twitter. He even replied to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal's explanation of why this wasn't possible with a poop emoji.
Musk also stated that the deal "cannot move forward" until Agrawal provides proof that less than five percent of Twitter's users are bots.
If he quits the deal, he will be required to pay a $1 billion termination fee and could undergo litigation.
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Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
