Elon Musk's Twitter buyout in danger over bot count issue
Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter is back under the public scanner after a Washington Post report suggested that the deal is in danger. What's holding Musk back from the deal is something he has been talking about forever - bots. The report sent Twitter's shares down by 4% as fresh doubts have arisen. Musk is expected to make a statement soon.
Why does this story matter?
Social media users are affected by bots on a daily basis, but who would have thought that bots would bring a multi-billion dollar deal to a standstill? Well, the Musk-Twitter deal, at least on paper, looks like it is nearing its end. The company has expressed its intention to go through. The world awaits what the billionaire has to say this time.
Musk has repeatedly expressed his misgivings about Twitter's bot estimate
Twitter has said that the estimated number of spam accounts on the platform is less than 5%. The blogging platform uses both internal as well as external data to find bots. Musk has repeatedly expressed his misgiving about Twitter's estimate and has asked the company to prove its numbers. He even threatened to pull out of the deal if the estimate is not proved.
Musk's team thinks that Twitter cannot verify its estimates
Musk wanted Twitter to let his team verify the company's claims. Complying with his demands, the company gave access to its "fire hose" data, but it only included public tweet data. The acquisition is in jeopardy now as the Tesla chief's team has concluded that Twitter cannot verify its estimates on spam accounts. Reportedly, the two parties have stopped engaging in discussion.
'We intend to close the transaction and enforce merger agreement'
After Washington Post's report, a Twitter spokesperson said, "Twitter has and will continue to cooperatively share information with Mr. Musk to consummate the transaction in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement." "We believe this agreement is in the best interest of all shareholders. We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms."
Termination fee of $1 billion for backing from the agreement
Reports of Musk backing away from the Twitter acquisition is nothing new. After such reports, the billionaire had come out and put the doubts to bed. The current reports, however, cast doubts over Musk going through with the previous deal. Some changes could be on the horizon. It should be noted that if either party backs out, they would have to pay $1 billion.
