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SAN FRANCISCO – Elon Musk may be looking for a lower price for Twitter, he told a news conference Monday, just days after he tweeted that his $ 44 billion bid for the site had been “temporarily withheld”.
Speaking at a closed-door session at the Miami All-In Summit, a conference with technology founders and media personalities, Musk said the Twitter deal was not “ruled out” at a lower price. The comments were first reported by Bloomberg.
Kevin Pafrat, a financial analyst and YouTuber named “Meet Kevin” who attended the conference, said Musk had been asked if “a different price could be a good deal.”
“I mean, it’s not out of the question,” he said, according to Pafrat, who said he had made up-to-date notes. “The more questions I ask, the more my worries grow.”
Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk’s comments on Monday signaled that he was still distancing himself from his initial $ 44 billion deal to buy the website, which was announced on April 25th. Tesla’s CEO has clashed with Twitter’s management over spam bots, fake accounts that often promote cryptocurrencies and trade. fraud, although analysts and some advisers have suggested that Musk’s focus on the issue is simply a pretext to abandon the deal.
Tesla shares have fallen sharply since Musk’s interest in Twitter went public and Musk’s net worth suffered a significant blow. Much of Musk’s financing for the deal relies on Musk’s ability to use Tesla shares as collateral, similar to using property to secure a loan. The recent decline in technology stocks prompted Musk to look for additional investors to reduce his stake in the deal, as Musk promised $ 21 billion of its net worth – largely tied to Tesla shares – to buy the site.
Elon Musk says the Twitter deal has been delayed, putting the offer on shaky ground
Shares of Twitter fell sharply after Musk’s comments, closing at $ 37.39 on Monday – well below Musk’s offer of $ 54.20 per share. The deal was expected to close later this year, before Musk tweeted Friday that he was on hold “pending details supporting [Twitter’s] an estimate that spam / fake accounts actually account for less than 5% of users.
Musk said he believed spam accounts accounted for a significantly larger share of Twitter users. On Monday, he responded with an emoji on Twitter from the social media site’s chief executive, Parag Agraval, who was trying to explain his methodology for counting bots.
The problem with the Twitter bot is unlikely to allow Musk to abandon the deal
Musk was outlining his concerns about bots on Twitter when he was asked to ask for a lower price. He likened the problem of buying a house to a termite problem. The house would cost less if it was found to be mostly termites – compared to one that had only a small termite problem, he said.
At first glance, Musk outlined his disappointment at his inability to extract from Twitter what he thought were direct answers.
For Pafrat, who was in the audience, it was clear that Musk was “laying the groundwork.” [had] renegotiation has begun. “
talking about a problem with bots on twitter, @elonmusk says it can be like buying a house when they say it’s 5 percent termites, but you realize it’s actually 90 percent termites – he says the company is not up to it #allinsummit pic.twitter.com / dQxhRnUMJq
– Josiah Daniel Ryan (@JosiahRyan) May 16, 2022
Now with Musk’s comments during Monday’s technology conference, analysts have questioned whether the deal will be made.
“In our opinion, Street attributes Musk’s chance to go more than 50%, which speaks to the pressure on Twitter shares – $ 54.20 goes out the window with this circus show,” wrote Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. in Note. “[We] view the $ 44 billion Twitter deal as less than 50% [likelihood] to be done as of today … If the revised deal is made by Musk and Twitter, it will probably be at a lower price.
Meanwhile, Twitter released a new corporate submission late Monday, in which the company answered questions about whether there will be layoffs or whether its content moderation practices will change. But the document provided few answers, except that company practices will continue for the same time as before. The phrase “business as usual” is repeated nine times in the documentation.
Elizabeth Dvoskin contributed to this report.
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