Twitter Buyout Stalls
(RepublicanNews.org) – Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk has been making headlines for his $40 billion bid to buy Twitter. The SpaceX founder announced a slew of potential changes he wanted to implement shortly after the deal first went public — at least one of which includes reinstating former President Donald Trump. Now, the world’s richest man refuses to move forward until Twitter agrees to get transparent about fake accounts and bots.
Musk took to his own Twitter account to talk about what he sees as the platform’s core problem: an excessive number of bots, fake accounts, and spammers. The tech billionaire blasted Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, accusing him of reporting false numbers to the SEC, and vowed not to continue until the company reveals the truth.
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
Musk based his offer on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, which place the total number of bots, spammers, and fake accounts at somewhere around 5%. Agrawal confirmed similar statistics in a May 16 tweet:
Our actual internal estimates for the last four quarters were all well under 5% – based on the methodology outlined above. The error margins on our estimates give us confidence in our public statements each quarter.
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) May 16, 2022
But Musk remains skeptical; he isn’t willing to just take Agrawal at his word. Instead, he wants the Twitter CEO to furnish reliable proof. The tech billionaire believes the actual number sits closer to 20% or more. That estimation, if correct, could seriously change Twitter’s valuation.
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