Musk accuses Twitter of “resisting and frustrating” its right to false account information

Musk’s plan to buy Twitter has worried policymakers around the world.

Joe Skipper | Reuters

Elon Musk accused Twitter of “resisting and frustrating” its right to false account information on the platform, calling it a “clear material breach” of the terms of its merger agreement in a letter to the company on Monday.

“Mr. Musk reserves all the rights that derive from it, including his right not to complete the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement,” the letter, signed by Skadden’s lawyer, states. Mike Ringler.

Twitter shares fell 5% Monday morning.

Musk wrote on Twitter last month that his $ 44 billion purchase from the company would not go ahead until he had more information about the number of fake accounts on the service. Some analysts interpreted the measure as a bargaining tactic for a lower price.

He said his team would do a random sampling to calculate the number of fake accounts, but the CEO of Twitter later explained that non-public information would be needed to get an accurate count. Twitter executives told staff that “there is nothing” like suspending the deal, Musk said, according to a Bloomberg report.

In Monday’s letter, Musk’s attorney wrote that the merger agreement requires Twitter to provide the data Musk requested and disputed the company’s alleged claim that it should only provide information for the purpose. limited to help close the transaction.

“On the contrary, Mr. Musk has a right to search, and Twitter is required to provide, information and data for, among other things,” any reasonable business purpose related to the consummation of the transaction, “the letter says.

“At the moment, Mr. Musk believes that Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing more suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data. due to concern about what Mr Musk’s own analysis of this data will do.

According to the letter, Musk would agree to make sure that anyone reviewing the data would be bound by a non-disclosure agreement and would not use any “competition-sensitive information” if the agreement is not closed.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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