Tag Archives: Twitter deal

Elon Musk’s Latest Reason To Drop Twitter Deal

Elon Musk has been locked in a bitter legal battle with Twitter (File)

New York:

Elon Musk on Friday added a severance payment made by Twitter to a whistleblower to the list of reasons he feels entitled to walk away from his $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform.

A termination letter sent to Twitter accused the firm of not informing him about a multi-million dollar severance payment it made in June to departing security chief Peiter Zatko, who went on to file a whistleblower complaint criticizing Twitter’s security practices, according to a copy of the letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Musk’s lawyers argued that failing to seek his consent before paying Zatko provides another legal basis to break the merger deal with Twitter he inked in April.

Twitter disagreed.

“My friend seems to be arguing that Twitter should have gratuitously told Musk that there existed a disgruntled former employee who made various allegations that had been inquired upon and found to be without merit,” Twitter attorney William Savitt said earlier this week.

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Musk, the world’s richest man, said in his original termination letter that he was canceling the deal because he was misled by Twitter concerning the number of bot accounts on its platform, allegations rejected by the company.

In a mixed ruling earlier this week, Kathaleen McCormick, the chancellor of the Delaware court that is overseeing the case, said Musk could add whistleblowing revelations from Zatko that surfaced in August.

But she denied his request to push back the litigation, saying prolonging the suit “would risk further harm to Twitter too great to justify.”

Musk has been locked in a bitter legal battle with Twitter since announcing in July that he was pulling the plug on the purchase of the company following a complex, volatile, months-long courtship.

The five-day trial is due to go ahead beginning October 17 in the Delaware court.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Elon Musk says Twitter deal should go ahead if it provides proof of real accounts

Elon Musk said that if Twitter Inc. could provide its method of sampling 100 accounts and how it confirmed that the accounts are real, his $44 billion deal to buy the company should proceed on original terms.
“However, if it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not,” Musk tweeted early on Saturday.
Twitter on Thursday dismissed Musk’s claims that he was hoodwinked into signing the deal to buy the social media company, saying that it was “implausible and contrary to fact”.
Musk made the claims in a countersuit filed under seal last Friday, which was made public on Thursday.

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Elon Musk Texted Twitter CEO About Lawyers Before Deal Pull-Out: Report

Twitter sued Musk after he decided to back out of the $44 billion takeover deal. (File)

Washington:

The dispute between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter is taking many twists and turns.

As per new reports, Elon Musk recently, but before pulling out of the deal, sent a text to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal on June 28, informing him that the company’s lawyers were trying to “cause trouble” after they sought information on the financial details that Musk was planning to complete the acquisition of Twitter.

“Your lawyers are using these conversations to cause trouble. That needs to stop,” Musk’s text reportedly read. Musk sent the particular message after Twitter asked Musk how he would finance the Twitter deal.

A few days ago, Twitter sued Musk after he decided to back out of the $44 billion takeover deal.

As per The Verge, the lawsuit was filed in Delaware’s Court of Chancery on Tuesday, accusing Musk of hypocrisy.”Twitter brings this action to enjoin Musk from further breaches to compel Musk to fulfil his legal obligations and to compel consummation of the merger upon satisfaction of the few outstanding conditions,” Twitter wrote in the lawsuit. The lawsuit marks the beginning of what could be a protracted legal battle as Twitter seeks to hold Musk to his deal to pay USD 54.20 per share for the company. Twitter, which is being repped by M&A powerhouse law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, alleged that Musk looked for an escape from the deal, which required a “material adverse effect” or breach of contract.”

Musk had to try to conjure one of those,” the lawsuit stated. Musk announced the termination of the Twitter purchase deal in a letter sent by Musk’s team to Twitter earlier this month.

Musk decided to suspend the deal due to multiple breaches of the purchase agreement. In April, Musk reached an acquisition agreement with Twitter at USD 54.20 per share in a transaction valued at approximately USD 44 billion. However, Musk put the deal on hold in May to allow his team to review the veracity of Twitter’s claim that less than 5 per cent of accounts on the platform are bots or spam.

Back in June, Musk had openly accused the microblogging website of breaching the merger agreement and threatened to walk away and call off the acquisition of the social media company for not providing the data he has requested on spam and fake accounts. Musk alleged that Twitter is “actively resisting and thwarting his information rights” as outlined by the deal, CNN reported, citing the letter he sent to Twitter’s head of legal, policy and trust, Vijaya Gadde.

Musk demanded that Twitter turn over information about its testing methodologies to support its claims that bots and fake accounts constitute less than 5 per cent of the platform’s active user base, a figure the company has consistently stated for years in boilerplate public disclosures.

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