According to reports, Elon Musk’s deal with Twitter Inc. may be at risk because of a lack of clarity regarding the platform’s fake spam accounts.
In late April, Musk agreed to buy the social media platform for $54.20 per share. He has since indicated several times that he wants to back out over spam account figures.
Twitter executives told Reuters today that they are removing more than 1 million spam accounts per day, and these fake accounts make up less than 5% of the total. That is double the number of daily bot takedowns CEO Parag Agrawal cited in a May tweet.
Despite closing up 1.5% on Thursday, Twitter shares fell more than 4% in after-market trade, changing hands at around $37. Investors are and have been, clearly indicating they don’t expect the acquisition to close – or at least not at the original price.
Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives has said the odds of a deal happening are at about 60% with a renegotiated price in the $42-$45 range due to the fake account issue.