Elon Musk says his planned $US44 billion ($63.7 billion) takeover of Twitter should go ahead if the company can confirm some details about how it measures whether user accounts are “spam bots” or real people.
Key points:
- Twitter estimates that less than 5% of its user accounts are fake or spam
- Musk said his deal to buy Twitter would move forward on its original terms if the company provided its sampling method.
- Both sides are headed to trial in October
The billionaire Tesla CEO has been trying to back out of his April deal to buy the social media company, which led Twitter to sue him last month to complete the acquisition.
Musk countersued, accusing Twitter of misleading his team about the true size of its user base and other issues that he said amounted to fraud and breach of contract.
The two sides are headed for a trial in October in a Delaware court.
“If Twitter simply provides its method of sampling 100 accounts and how they are confirmed to be real, the deal should proceed on original terms,” Musk tweeted.
“However, if it turns out that its filings with the SEC are materially false, it should not.”
Musk, who has more than 100 million followers on Twitter, challenged Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal to a “public debate about Twitter’s percentage of bots.”
Twitter declined to comment.
The company has repeatedly disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission an estimate that less than 5 percent of user accounts are fake or spam, with a disclaimer that it could be higher.
Musk waived his right to further due diligence when he signed the April merger agreement.
Twitter has argued in court that Musk is deliberately trying to limit the deal and is using the bot question as an excuse because market conditions have deteriorated and the acquisition no longer serves its interests.
In a court filing, the company describes its counterclaims as a made-up story “contradicted by evidence and common sense.”
“Musk invents representations that Twitter never made and then attempts to selectively use the extensive confidential data that Twitter provided him to conjure up a breach of those alleged representations,” Twitter’s lawyers wrote.
While Mr. Musk has tried to keep the focus on the bot revelations, Twitter’s legal team has been seeking information about a number of investors and tech entrepreneurs connected to Mr. Musk in a broad subpoena that could connect some of your private communications with Tesla. CEO
AP/ABC