Elon Musk has threatened to pull out of the Twitter partnership
Elon Musk has threatened to pull out of his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, claiming that the social media business has “thwarted” his attempts to learn more about its user base.
He said in a letter to regulators that he had the right to measure spam accounts on his own.
The letter puts an end to a spat that has been simmering for weeks since Mr Musk placed the acquisition “on hold” for more details.
Twitter has come out in defence of its figures.
On the other hand, Mr Musk has stated that he believes spam and fraudulent accounts account for significantly more than the less than 5% of daily users reported by Twitter.
The squabble has cast fresh uncertainty on the takeover, which was approved by Twitter’s board of directors in April.
According to Twitter, Mr Musk forfeited usual due diligence rights in his haste to close the acquisition, Twitter, adding that it intended to execute the takeover at the agreed price and terms.
According to analysts, Tesla’s CEO may be using the situation to try to renegotiate the price or even walk away. They claimed Mr Musk’s decision to bring the issue up on social media was unusual, making it difficult to gauge his seriousness.
He responded with a poo emoji after Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal defended the company’s methodology in a series of tweets.
Mr Musk has stated that he believes bots account for 20% or more of Twitter users. The letter, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States, confirms that the two parties have been back and forth on the matter since early May.
Mr Musk’s offer of $54.20 per share for Twitter has become even more generous as a result of the fall. Twitter shares were trading below $39 on Monday, down 3%, but they eventually recovered some ground. They have failed to return to the highs reached last month, shortly after Mr Musk announced he had bought approximately 9% of the company’s stock.
The letter is the “strongest warning yet” that Tesla founder Elon Musk is willing to walk away, according to Susannah Streeter, senior financial and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.