Elon Musk’s plan to purchase Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) might have run into another problem as the billionaire insists he wants to buy the company for 25% less than the price he had initially agreed upon. Musk, who claims that 25% of the accounts on the platform are bots, says that he should get to acquire the company for less money.
Twitter had disclosed in SEC filings that bot accounts accounted for less than 5%. However, Musk claimed that the number was over 25% and criticised the company for failing to explain how it reached 5%.
Experts state that the billionaire has gotten cold feet on the Twitter deal due to the pressure on his other company Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA). This claim seems to be a way for Musk to get a lower deal for Twitter while using a scapegoat. Twitter’s share value has gone down since Musk started to back out of the agreement.
Prince Alwaleed sells Twitter shares
Prince Alwaleed, a prominent investor, also bought Twitter shares when Musk announced that the deal was on hold. However, he sold them less than a week later at a loss. Experts speculate that Alwaleed though investors, had overreacted due to the announcement.
He likely expected the dip to be temporary and thought he could buy shares at a lower cost. He seemed to have changed his mind after seeing no recovery for Twitter.
In a recent shareholder meeting for Twitter, the company failed to mention anything about its deal with Musk. Executives seemed to shut down questions regarding the takeover and said that such questions would be answered later. Moreover, Parag Agrawal, the CEO, assured investors that business would go on as usual.
Twitter launched an API V2 update
Meanwhile, Twitter has launched an update for the API V2 interface. This move would provide developers with better support as it allows them to get tweets and retweets made by users and the accounts they follow. It will benefit clients like Tweetbot.
The company has also stated it will block tweets on its platform if they seem to spread misinformation. Such tweets usually go viral during events which prompt people to search for information online. Unfortunately, many hoaxes make it difficult for content moderators to deal with them.
