Tesla CEO Elon Musk's deal to buy Twitter is in danger as his representatives continue to claim that the micro-blogging site's spam accounts' details are not verified and the team has stopped engaging in certain discussions with Twitter, according to a report.
Three people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post that Musk's team has stopped engaging in certain discussions around funding for the $44 billion deal, including with a party named as a likely backer.
Not Enough Information To Evaluate Twitter's Prospect As Business
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, according to the Post.
Twitter spokesperson Brian Poliakoff has maintained the company's previous stand as it stated in June that the micro-blogging site 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's Revenue
In May, Musk had put the deal on pause over spam accounts. He stated that the "Twitter deal is temporarily on hold pending details supporting the calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users".
Musk could be considering renegotiating the deal at a lower amount and it would definitely be supported by spam or bot accounts and plunging shares of Twitter. In a hurry to secure the deal, many experts estimate that Musk overvalued the micro-blogging site, which doesn't make much money with its current business plan.
In the last financial year, Twitter generated revenue of merely $5 billion. However, Musk told lenders in May that he had plans to raise the annual revenue of Twitter to $26.4 billion by 2028.
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