Elon Musk on Friday withdrew his $44 billion bid to buy Twitter, saying the social media company had failed to provide information about fake accounts on the platform.
SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. (File photo: Reuters)
Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on Friday that he was Ending its $44 billion deal for Twitter Inc. said the social media company has failed to provide information about fake accounts on the platform.
Twitter shares were down 7% in extended trading. Musk had offered $54.20 per share in April.
Twitter chairman Brett Taylor said on the micro-blogging platform that the board plans to take legal action to enforce the merger agreement.
The Twitter board is committed to closing the transaction on a price and terms agreed with Mr. Musk and plans to take legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident that we will win the Delaware Court of Chancery.
— Brett Taylor (@btaylor) 8 July 2022
In a filing, Musk’s lawyers said Twitter failed or refused to respond to multiple requests for information on fake or spam accounts on the platform, which is fundamental to the company’s business performance.
“Twitter is in material breach of several provisions of the agreement that it appears to have made false and misleading representations to the extent to which Mr. Musk entered into the merger agreement,” the filing said.
The announcement marks another turning point in the will after the world’s richest man struck a $44 billion deal for Twitter in April, but the purchase is put on hold until the social media company can prove it’s a spam bot. eat less. More than 5% of its total users.
The terms of the deal would require Musk to pay a $1 billion break-up fee for not completing the transaction.
Musk threatened to halt the deal unless the company showed evidence that spam and bot accounts accounted for less than 5% of users who see ads on the social media service.
The decision is likely to result in a prolonged legal dispute between the billionaire and the 16-year-old San Francisco-based company.
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