An announcement in April said that Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, had decided to make a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, as he believed the company had tremendous potential; however, the deal has apparently come to an end this past week. Musk terminated the agreement because, he claims, Twitter did not provide enough information on the number of spam and fake accounts that exist on the social-media platform.
In May, the deal was “temporarily on hold,” according to Musk. He wanted data on the number of fake and spam accounts on Twitter before proceeding to fully carry out the transaction. However, he claims, Twitter failed to provide these answers as Musk waited patiently for the results.
Spam accounts on Twitter are designed to disperse information to a huge number of users and control the way they interact with the social-media platform. Musk believes that spam or bot accounts could potentially account for 20% or more of Twitter users.
James Clayton, a North American technology reporter, said, “Elon Musk has for weeks been trying to get information about how many daily active users Twitter has. Twitter has a problem with bots. In fact, only yesterday it said it removed a million spam accounts a day.”
Musk will likely be battling with Twitter as the billionaire “signed a legally binding agreement in April to buy the company for $54.20 a share, waiving due diligence to get the deal done quickly. The terms included a $1 billion breakup fee if the agreement fell apart and a clause that gives Twitter the right to sue Mr. Musk to either force him to complete or pay for the deal, so long as the debt financing he has corralled remains intact,” Kate Conger and Lauren Hirsch, both New York Times writers, wrote.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/technology/elon-musk-twitter.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62102821
In May, the deal was “temporarily on hold,” according to Musk. He wanted data on the number of fake and spam accounts on Twitter before proceeding to fully carry out the transaction. However, he claims, Twitter failed to provide these answers as Musk waited patiently for the results.
Spam accounts on Twitter are designed to disperse information to a huge number of users and control the way they interact with the social-media platform. Musk believes that spam or bot accounts could potentially account for 20% or more of Twitter users.
James Clayton, a North American technology reporter, said, “Elon Musk has for weeks been trying to get information about how many daily active users Twitter has. Twitter has a problem with bots. In fact, only yesterday it said it removed a million spam accounts a day.”
Musk will likely be battling with Twitter as the billionaire “signed a legally binding agreement in April to buy the company for $54.20 a share, waiving due diligence to get the deal done quickly. The terms included a $1 billion breakup fee if the agreement fell apart and a clause that gives Twitter the right to sue Mr. Musk to either force him to complete or pay for the deal, so long as the debt financing he has corralled remains intact,” Kate Conger and Lauren Hirsch, both New York Times writers, wrote.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/technology/elon-musk-twitter.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62102821
