Elon Musk is close to abandoning his takeover of Twitter in a row over the number of fake accounts.
The world’s richest man is thought to be considering pulling out of a £37billion deal to buy the social media site after disagreeing with its calculations that only 5 per cent of the profiles are bogus.
Musk claimed in May that as many as 20 per cent of 330m accounts were counterfeit. While Twitter has given his team access to its ‘firehouse’, a feed of every tweet posted in real-time, managers have refused to explain how they calculated the 5 per cent figure.
Flying the coop?: Elon Musk has ‘stopped engaging’ in discussions around funding the takeover
As a result, Musk has ‘stopped engaging’ in discussions around funding the takeover and was not speaking to one possible backer, a source told The Washington Post.
Twitter shares dropped 4.5 per cent to $37.12 on Wall Street, as analysts at US broker Wedbush warned there was a ‘less than 5 per cent chance’ of a deal going ahead at a price of $54.20, predicting a deal at a much-reduced price.
They said there was a 35 per cent chance Musk would walk away, meaning he would need to pay an £831m break fee while also possibly triggering a lengthy legal battle.
Wedbush said a deal was ‘essentially out the window,’ adding: ‘In a nutshell, the Twitter soap opera is clearly coming to some sort of finale over the coming months as Musk makes the decision to stay (with a lower price) or go.’ Shares in Twitter have sunk nearly 17 per cent since his approach was revealed.
The saga has dented the value of Tesla, the electric car maker through which Musk derives much of his fortune.
Its shares have dropped by 23 per cent.
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