Shares of the social media company fell 17.7% in premarket trading to $37.10, the lowest since Elon Musk announced his stake in the company in early April
Shares of the social media company fell 17.7% in premarket trading to $37.10, the lowest since Elon Musk announced his stake in the company in early April
Elon Musk temporarily shelved his $44 billion Twitter Inc. deal on May 13, citing pending details to support the calculation that spam and fake accounts actually make up less than 5% of users.
Shares of the social media company fell 17.7% in premarket trading to $37.10, the lowest since Mr Musk announced his stake in the company in early April and subsequently made a “best and final” offer, to take it private for $54.20 per share.
The implied probability of closing the deal at the agreed price fell below 50% for the first time on Tuesday, when Twitter stock fell below $46.75.
Twitter earlier this month estimated that fake or spam accounts made up less than 5% of its monetizable daily active users in the first quarter, when it recorded 229 million users being served ads.
“Twitter deal on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts actually represent less than 5% of users,” Elon Musk tweeted on Friday.
Mr Musk, the richest man in the world and a self-proclaimed freedom of speech absolutist, had said one of his priorities would be removing “spam bots” from the platform. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Mr Musk or his company, Tesla Inc., were not immediately available for comment.
The social media company had said it faced several risks pending the closing of the deal with Mr. Musk, including whether advertisers would continue to spend on Twitter amid “potential uncertainty about future plans and strategies.”
Elon Musk criticizes Twitter’s moderation policy. He has said he wants Twitter’s algorithm to prioritize tweets so they are public and opposed too much leverage on the service for companies that advertise.
Earlier this week he said he would lift Twitter’s ban on former US President Donald Trump if he buys the social media platform, signaling his intention to cut moderation on the site.
