Twitter sued after Musk decided to back out of a $44 billion acquisition deal. (file)
Washington:
The dispute between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter is taking many turns.
According to new reports, Elon Musk recently, but before pulling out of the deal, sent a text message to Twitter CEO Barak Agarwal on June 28, telling him that the company’s lawyers were trying to “cause trouble” after asking for information about financial details. Musk plans to close the acquisition of Twitter.
“Your lawyers are using these conversations to cause trouble. It needs to stop,” Musk’s text read. Musk sent the specific message after Twitter asked Musk how to finance the Twitter deal.
A few days ago, Twitter sued Musk after he decided to back out of a $44 billion acquisition deal.
According to The Verge, the lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Delaware’s Chancery Court, and Musk alleges hypocrisy. “Twitter is bringing this action to compel Musk to fulfill his legal obligations, to compel the merger upon satisfaction, and to enjoin Musk from further violations. Certain conditions are pending,” Twitter said in the suit. Written by The lawsuit marks the start of a protracted legal battle as Twitter seeks to hold Musk to an agreement to pay the company USD 54.20 per share. Twitter, repped by M&A powerhouse law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, accused Musk of trying to escape the deal, which requires a “material adverse effect” or breach of contract.”
Musk should try to envision one of them,” the suit said. Musk announced in a letter to Twitter earlier this month that Musk’s team was terminating the Twitter purchase deal.
Musk decided to suspend the contract due to multiple violations of the purchase agreement. In April, Musk reached an acquisition deal with Twitter worth about $44 billion in a transaction valued at $54.20 per share. However, Musk put the deal on hold in May to allow his team to review the veracity of Twitter’s claim that fewer than 5 percent of accounts on the platform are bots or spam.
In June, Musk had publicly accused the microblogging website of violating its affiliation agreement and threatened to stop the acquisition of the social media company for not providing the data he requested on spam and fake accounts. Musk accused Twitter of “aggressively challenging and violating his information rights” as outlined by the agreement, CNN reported, citing a letter he sent to Twitter’s head of legal, policy and foundations, Vijaya Khade.
Musk demanded Twitter turn over information about its testing methods to support its claims that bots and fake accounts make up less than 5 percent of the platform’s active user base, something the company has consistently said in boilerplate public disclosures over the years.
“Lifelong social media lover. Falls down a lot. Creator. Devoted food aficionado. Explorer. Typical troublemaker.”