Billionaire Elon Muskʼs deal to buy Twitter is at "severe risk of disruption" — Muskʼs failure to verify information about fake accounts on the social network, and his teamʼs inability to assess the share of bots on the social network and the companyʼs prospects as a business.
The Washington Post writes about this with reference to three sources.
The breakdown of the deal is extremely likely, since Muskʼs team has already stopped negotiations on financing the purchase with investors. If Musk reneges on the deal, he will have to pay a billion dollars to break it.
However, legal experts doubt that the problem with fake accounts can be considered a serious and valid reason to terminate the agreement. Besides, Twitter wants to end it.
- On April 5, 2022, Elon Musk bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, after which the company offered him a seat on the board of directors. Musk refused and on April 14 offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion. According to the plan, they want to close the deal by the end of the year.
- On May 13, shares of Twitter fell by 19% due to the fact that Elon Musk suspended the purchase of the company. The billionaire said the temporary "delay" was due to waiting for detailed information on the number of fake accounts on Twitter.
- In June, Twitterʼs board of directors unanimously recommended that the companyʼs shareholders approve the purchase.