Elon Musk said his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter “cannot move forward” unless the company can prove that less than 5% of accounts are fake or spam accounts.
Musk tweeted that his offer for the firm was based on Twitter’s disclosures to regulators about fake accounts being accurate.
After announcing the blockbuster deal to buy Twitter in April, last week Musk said the deal was “on hold” since there was no certainty on the true number of fake users.
In a series of tweets Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal defended the firm’s estimates that spam accounts were less than 5% of users. The Tesla CEO estimates that fake accounts can hit 20% or more.
After Agrawal´s tweets Musk responded with a poop emoji. Later he also said that Agrawal had “publicly refused to show proof” on his numbers.
Musk is known for using Twitter for both sharing memes or disclosing sensitive corporate announcements. The billionaire said on Monday that he could seek a lower price.
Analysts have speculated that Musk may be looking to renegotiate the deal price or even walk away from it. According to reports, if any party involved decides to end the deal, there would be a $1 billion fee from termination.
