Elon Musk walks away from Twitter deal over lack of information on ‘spam and fake accounts’

by Laura Ramirez

Photo: Alamy

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk informed Twitter Friday that he will terminate his $44 billion deal to take over the company, citing “false and misleading representations.”

Musk’s attorneys sent Twitter’s Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde a Friday letter stating that the multi-billionaire wanted to walk away from the deal after it failed to release crucial information over its “bot” accounts. The letter also accused Twitter of providing misleading or false information.

The letter obtained by the Washington Examiner states:

“As further described below, Mr. Musk is terminating the Merger Agreement because Twitter is in material breach of multiple provisions of that Agreement, appears to have made false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when entering into the Merger Agreement, and is likely to suffer a Company Material Adverse Effect (as that term is defined in the Merger Agreement).”

In a letter to Gadde in June, Musk threatened to end the $44 billion deal to acquire the company after Twitter “refused to provide the information that Mr. Musk has repeatedly requested since May 9, 2022 to facilitate his evaluation of spam and fake accounts on the company’s platform.”

The letter reminded the company that Musk “reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement.”

The Hill reported that Twitter plans to meet Musk with legal action over the termination.

Following Musk’s termination letter, Bret Taylor, the chair of Twitter’s board, tweeted that the board “is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement.”

“We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery,” Taylor concluded.

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