Elon Musk said that a lower price than the US$44bn agreed for Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) was “not out of the question” as he suggested the number of fake accounts on the social network was much higher than the company indicated.
He was speaking at the All-in Summit in Miami, just three days after confirming he was putting the deal “on hold” on worries there were more automated accounts than the “less than 5%” Twitter claimed.
When asked if the deal would still go through, Musk responded: “It really depends on a lot of factors here. I’m still waiting for some sort of logical explanation for the number of sort of fake or spam accounts on Twitter.
“And Twitter is refusing to tell us. This seems like a strange thing.”
The Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Space X chief executive added he thought at least 20% of accounts were fake, with the amount potentially being as high as 90%.
Musk would be charged a US$1bn break-up fee if he were to walk away, with Twitter able to force the deal upon him unless he can highlight any significant information that was not made available on agreement.
The social media platform’s shares sank more than 8% on Monday to US$37.39, almost a third below Musk’s agreed US$54.20 price.
Wall Street is assigning the chance of Musk walking away at "more than 50%," reckoned analyst Daniel Ives at broker Wedbush.