- wording
- BBC News World
13 mayo 2022
After all the attention received by what appeared to be one of the biggest stock deals of the year, Elon Musk confirmed that the deal to buy Twitter, valued at $44,000, “is on hold.”
The decision is made while waiting to receive data on the number of fake or spam accounts that exist on the social network.
He said he was waiting for information “to support [el] calculation of spam or fake accounts represent less than 5% of users.
Las Twitter shares fell as much as 25% before the official opening of the market in the United States and with the beginning of the session, the collapse gradually softened.
A new tweet from the businessman also helped to stop the fall, stating that “remains committed” to the acquisition.
Under the terms of the agreement, if either Twitter or Musk pulls out of the deal, They must compensate the other party with US$1,000 million.
Musk has weighed in on blocking spam accounts in the past.
“One of his priorities, he said, was to clean the platform, remove bots and spam accounts that you think are causing the quality of the platform to worsenexplains BBC Technology Editor Zoe Klienman.
However, analysts speculate that it might be looking to renegotiate the price or even walk away from the acquisition.
Twitter reported more than two weeks ago that fake accounts accounted for less than 5% of its active users daily during the first three months of this year.
However, the company said that in determining the number of spam accounts, it “applied significant judgment, so our estimate of fake or spam accounts may not accurately represent the real number of said accounts.
“The actual number of fake or spam accounts might be higher than we have estimated. We are continually looking to improve our ability to estimate the total number of spam accounts,” the company said.
Musk, the richest man in the world according to Forbes magazine, it is now examining that figure.
Twitter has long had a problem with Automated fake accounts used to relentlessly post content.
Musk has called for “defeating spam bots” on Twitter, as well as several other changes, including bringing back some banned accounts, such as the former US President Donald Trump.
future scenarios
Dan Ives, a technology analyst at investment firm Wedbush Securities, said Musk’s tweet “would make this Friday the 13th a day of horror for Twitter.”
Said Wall Street would see 3 possibilities for this deal: “one, that he will likely unravel, or two, that Musk agrees to negotiate a lower deal price, or three, that Musk simply walks out of the deal by paying the $1 billion penalty.”
Ives said that if Musk still decides to go ahead with the deal, “it’s likely there will be a renegotiation clear on the table.
He added that many see in the scrutiny of the number of spam accounts “like a way out of this deal in a market that is changing enormously”.
“The nature of Musk creating so much uncertainty with a single tweet It is very worrying for us. There are a lot of unanswered questions regarding where the deal will go.”
The latest move from the Tesla boss comes following an announcement that two Twitter executives will leave the platform.
Kayvon Beykpour, who ran Twitter’s consumer division, and Bruce Falck, who oversaw revenue, tweeted Thursday that the exits were not their decisions.
As of this week, the firm also said it had paused most hiringexcept for “business-critical roles.”