Twitter files lawsuit against Elon Musk after he decides to back out of $44 billion acquisition deal
Washington:
Amid the ongoing court battle against Twitter, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that “engagement with almost all Twitter accounts seems to be very low lately.” On Twitter, Musk on Thursday wrote: “Interaction with almost all Twitter accounts seems to be much lower in the last few weeks and days. Accurate?”
Interaction with almost all Twitter accounts seems to be very less in the last few weeks and days. accurate?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2022
In another tweet, Musk added: “Tesla + Twitter -> Twizzler.”
Tesla + Twitter -> Twizzler
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2022
Musk’s tweet drew several comments.
One user wrote: “True.”
However, there’s one user who mocked Musk’s tweet saying: “No Elon. We’re just actively ignoring you. Also, are you so vain that you measure your life in degrees of Twitter engagement?”
A few days ago, the microblogging site filed a lawsuit against Musk after he decided to back out of the $44 billion acquisition deal.
Twitter filed a motion to expedite the proceedings and asked for a four-day trial in September. Musk’s legal team opposed the motion.
“Twitter brings this action to enjoin Musk from further breaches to compel Musk to comply with his legal obligations and compel the consummation of the merger when the few outstanding conditions are met,” the social media site wrote in the lawsuit. The lawsuit marks the start of what could be a protracted legal battle as Twitter seeks to hold Musk to his agreement to pay $54.20 per share for the company.
Twitter, which is being represented by powerful M&A law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, alleged that Musk was seeking an escape from the deal, which required a “material adverse effect” or breach of contract.
“Musk had to try to conjure up one of them,” the lawsuit said. Musk announced the completion of a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter in a letter sent by Musk’s team to Twitter in early July.
Musk decided to terminate the deal due to multiple breaches of the purchase agreement. In April, Musk reached an acquisition agreement with Twitter at $54.20 per share in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion. However, Musk suspended the deal in May to allow his team to review the veracity of Twitter’s claim that less than 5% of accounts on the platform are bots or spam.
In June, Musk had openly accused the microblogging website of breaching the merger agreement and threatened to walk out and void the acquisition of the social media company for failing to provide the data it has requested. about spam and fake accounts.
Musk alleged that Twitter is “actively resisting and thwarting his information rights” as outlined in the settlement, CNN reported, citing the letter he sent to Twitter’s chief legal, policy and trust officer Vijaya Gadda.
Musk demanded that Twitter provide information about its testing methodologies to support its claims that bots and fake accounts make up less than 5 percent of the platform’s active user base, a figure the company has consistently stated for years in public revelations.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)