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Ariana Baio
Jun 06, 2022
Elon Musk posts vulgar tweet about Bill Gates in midst of feud
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Elon Musk is threatening to revoke his $44 billion Twitter deal citing the company's lack of transparency regarding the number of spam and bot accounts.
Musk, 50, initially submitted a bid for the social media platform in April which the company accepted. In the bid, Musk said part of his intention in acquiring Twitter was to limit the number of spam and bot accounts.
But on Monday, the Tesla CEO's lawyer threatened to sink his bid in a letter to Twitter saying the company, "refused to provide the information that Mr. Musk has repeatedly requested since May 9, 2022 to facilitate his evaluation of spam and fake accounts on the company’s platform."
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Musk requested to perform an independent evaluation of the platform's spam and bot accounts which Twitter, seemingly, has not complied with.
"Based on Twitter’s behavior to date, and the company’s latest correspondence in particular, Mr. Musk believes the company is actively resisting and thwarting his information rights (and the company’s corresponding obligations) under the merger agreement. This is a clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement and Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement," the letter continues.
Publicly, Twitter has reported that less than five percent of users are bot or spam accounts. But Musk has refuted the claim saying the number could be 20 percent or higher.
\u201c@Teslarati 20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher.\n\nMy offer was based on Twitter\u2019s SEC filings being accurate.\n\nYesterday, Twitter\u2019s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%.\n\nThis deal cannot move forward until he does.\u201d— TESLARATI (@TESLARATI) 1652748142
In the letter, Musk's team recognized that Twitter responded to Musk's request on June 1 but it clearly did not satisfy the SpaceX founder.
Musk has maintained that the deal between the two is contingent on Twitter's ability to show proof of the number of fake accounts. Since the issue has been brought forth, the deal between the two has been set on hold.
Twitter's stock has declined since Musk's attempted acquisition and the debate over bot and spam account numbers have led to a fluctuation in the the value of the stock
Shareholders from Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk in May saying the billionaire manipulated the company's stock for personal gain.
Should the deal between Twitter and Musk fall through, each side has agreed to pay $1 billion each in a termination fee.
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