Elon Musk Hints at Renegotiating Buyout Price for Twitter Due to Spam or Bot Accounts

Former US President Donald Trump has also voiced his opinion about Musk’s offer to acquire Twitter. He said on Truth Social that Musk will not buy Twitter “at such a ridiculous price.”

While Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) is yet to finalize buyout deals with Musk, the billionaire hinted at a possible renegotiation of the initial price he offered to buy the company. During a recent summit, Musk said he could seek to pay a lower price for Twitter, claiming that the social network company has a minimum of four times more fake accounts than the company reported. The summit was hosted by Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya, and David Friedberg for their “All-In” podcast.

Twitter Lost 8% as Musk Suggest a Lower Acquisition Price for Twitter

In reaction to Musk’s statement on Twitter, TWTR closed down 8%. This is mainly due to worries growing among investors about the possibility that the billionaire may back down from his purchase offer. Twitter has shed all the gains it pulled in since Musk announced his investment in the company. The recent hint by the businessman has triggered doubts about a successful acquisition. Nevertheless, Twitter is now up 0.24% to $37.48 in extended trading.

Musk said last week that his deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion was on hold. According to the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, he was awaiting details on spam accounts as he suspects that these fake users represent at least 20% of all users. In comparison, Twitter placed the estimation at 5%.

In response to the possibility of the Twitter offer coming at a different price, Musk said:

“I mean, it’s not out of the question. The more questions I ask, the more my concerns grow. They claim that they’ve got this complex methodology that only they can understand… It can’t be some deep mystery that is, like, more complex than the human soul or something like that.”

In a Twitter thread, Parag Agrawal noted that the company suspends over half a million spam accounts daily. He added that the company also suspends suspected spam accounts that cannot pass human verification procedures. Agrawal explained the twist with fake and real accounts. While some accounts which appear fake superficially are actual people, some dangerous fake ones can look real on the surface. The Twitter team systems updates periodically to eliminate as much spam as possible to address the situation. The team carefully does the process so as not to affect legitimate accounts. The Twitter CEO said the “actual internal estimates” for spam accounts over the past four quarters are below 5%.

Donald Trump’s Comment on Musk’s Buyout Offer

Former US President Donald Trump has also voiced his opinion about Musk’s offer to acquire Twitter. The former president said on Truth Social that Musk will not buy Twitter “at such a ridiculous price.” Trump said Twitter is largely based on spam or bots accounts, which could hinder the deal.

“By the time you get rid of them, if that can even be done, what do you have? Not Much? If it weren’t for the ridiculous Billion Dollar breakup fee, Elon would have already been long gone. Just my opinion, but Truth Social is MUCH better than Twitter and is absolutely exploding, incredible engagement!” added he.

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Ibukun Ogundare

Ibukun is a crypto/finance writer interested in passing relevant information, using non-complex words to reach all kinds of audience.
Apart from writing, she likes to see movies, cook, and explore restaurants in the city of Lagos, where she resides.