Talks with investors have cooled in recent weeks as Musk’s camp has raised doubts about the recent data “fire hose” — a trove of data sold to corporate customers — they received from Twitter. Musk’s team’s doubts about the spam figures signal they believe they do not have enough information to evaluate Twitter’s prospects as a business, the people said.
Now that Musk’s team has concluded it cannot verify Twitter’s figures on spam accounts, one of the people said, it is expected to take potentially drastic action. The person said it was likely a change in direction from Musk’s team would come soon, though they did not say exactly what they thought that change would be.
The spam accounts are not the only reason Musk might try to wriggle out of the deal. Twitter’s share price has fallen TK% since his takeover bid in April, leading to the impression that he is overpaying. And Musk also runs two other major companies, Tesla and SpaceX, along with some start-ups.
But the terms of the deal mean it wouldn’t be easy for Musk to walk away. The deal carries a $1 billion break up fee. And legal experts expect a giant legal battle if Musk tries to pull out. Twitter, which initially fought Musk’s takeover bid, would be a much weaker company if the deal falls apart than when Musk first bought a stake, and experts expect Twitter to fight to get it done. Twitter could attempt to force Musk to go through with the purchase if his reason for scuttling it is not based on the company’s fundamental business.
Twitter spokesperson Brian Poliakoff declined to comment, but referred to a statement the company made in June.
“Twitter has and will continue to cooperatively share information with Mr. Musk to consummate the transaction in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement,” Twitter said in the June statement. “We believe this agreement is in the best interest of all shareholders. We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms.”
Musk shook up the social media world earlier this year with his unprecedented offer to take the company private, arguing he would be able to grow Twitter and make it more open and, in his mind, politically neutral. He said he would let former president Donald Trump back on the service and argued its content moderation practices infringed on free speech. Musk waived his right to take a deeper look at the company’s finances when he signed the deal.
But soon after, questions arose about whether he would actually follow through. A global sell-off in tech stocks deeply cut into his personal net worth, which he had leveraged to get commitments for the debt he needed to buy Twitter.
Musk’s enthusiasm for following through with the deal has been under question since at least May, when he said the deal was “on hold” until he could ascertain whether Twitter’s claim that fewer than 5 percent of accounts are bots or spam was accurate. He accused Twitter of withholding information, while the company said it was acting in good faith and providing everything the deal’s terms required it to.
“Twitter has not been cooperative,” said a person familiar with the discussions, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.
Focusing on bots plays into Musk’s hand, lowering Twitter’s stock price and potentially helping him force Twitter to renegotiate the deal at a lower price.
The debate over bots on Twitter isn’t new, and has been a big part of the public conversation around the company for years. Musk himself faces many spam bots in replies to his tweets. Twitter has long said around 5 percent of its accounts are bots or spam, while outside researchers have sometimes said the number could be much higher. Because of how quickly the tactics for creating and concealing the nature of fake accounts change, it is difficult for even experts to make strong pronouncements on who is right.
Twitter has been defending its process for measuring unwanted accounts, including in a news briefing on Thursday morning.
Twitter said that every three months, it takes a sample of the “Monetizable Average Daily Users,” the base of users which the company feels comfortable charging advertisers to reach. It analyzes that sample by hand to determine if they are fake or not. It said it has always been comfortable that the total comes under the 5 percent threshold.
Twitter does not ban all bots, which include accounts that post otter pictures on the hour or the temperature in a specific location. Instead, it looks for indicators that suggest fake or coordinated spam activity, such as the mass creation of accounts or coordination among humans to artificially amplify a specific tweet, set of tweets or topic.
The terms of the briefing precluded any of the experts being quoted directly or cited by name.
TK//can you build out the end here with some background about how twitter is in a weaker position now than before April? it apparently announced today that it laid off 1/3 of its talent team. and it has been just chaos for three months now. etc.//