Elon Musk’s ongoing war with Twitter is continuing to heat up, as the social media firm fires back at the notion that it ‘duped’ him into the $US44 billion (AUD$63.7 billion) acquisition deal.
In a document, Twitter rebuffs his counterclaims as he struggles to get out of the agreement he signed in April to acquire San Francisco-based Twitter.
Musk, who is the billionaire founder of multiple companies, says he was duped into signing a $44 billion merger agreement with Twitter, which is advised by Wall Street bankers and lawyers.
In response to Twitter’s suit last week, Musk filed a countersuit as well as a defence against the company’s claim that he is contractually required to complete the takeover.
Twitter claims in its motion that the counterclaims are a fictional story that is inconsistent with the evidence and common sense.
Tesla’s founder is scheduled to face off against Twitter in October during a five-day trial.
Should Twitter win its legal proceedings, Musk will either have to complete the original sale or pay a hefty ‘break-up fee.’
Musk wooed Twitter’s board with a $US54.20-per-share offer, but then in July announced he was terminating the company’s agreement because of its misrepresentation regarding the number of fake and spam accounts.
The company’s stock closed at $41.06 Thursday, firmly adhering to its assertion that less than 5% of activity on the platform is due to software ‘bots’ rather than people.
Twitter says Musk’s assertion that false account numbers are higher than 10 percent is “untenable.”
Musk’s assertion that he has the right to walk away from the deal if Twitter’s bot count is inaccurate is incorrect, according to the filing, since he didn’t request anything about bots when he made the purchase offer.
“Musk skipped all due diligence—offering Twitter 24 hours to accept his take-it-or-leave-it offer before presenting it directly to Twitter’s stockholders” is how the filing puts it.
Tesla claims that Musk devised a tale in order to avoid an acquisition agreement that he no longer found appealing.
Twitter has complied with the merger agreement in every way, according to the Delaware Chancery Court filing.
“Musk’s counterclaims, which are based on distortion, misrepresentation, and outright deceit, are unchanged,” says Twitter
On September 13, Twitter is seeking shareholder approval for the merger, which the social media platform believes will be beneficial to the company and its consumers.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and board chairman Bret Taylor assured investors that the company would honour the price and terms set with Musk.
There’s billions of dollars at stake, but so is Twitter’s future, which Musk has said should permit any kind of legal speech—a position that has caused concerns that the network might be used to foment violence.
Counterclaims say Twitter knew that supplying the Musk Parties with the information they requested would prove that Twitter had been swimming naked as a long bull market came to an end and the tide went out.
Musk has not provided a shred of evidence to support these ‘fact-free’ allegations, according to Twitter.
On Monday, Twitter issued dozens of subpoenas to banks, investors, and law firms that supported Musk’s takeover bid, while Musk sought information on Twitter’s advisers at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan through subpoenas.
Legal experts believe Twitter wants to know why Musk rejected the company, or whether he backed out on his promise to obtain sufficient financing.
