Elon Musk's legal team said on Monday that their client will walk away from a deal to buy Twitter if the company continues to resist his demands to be more forthcoming regarding the number of fake and spam accounts, sending company shares tumbling by 5%
NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th June, 2022) Elon Musk's legal team said on Monday that their client will walk away from a deal to buy Twitter if the company continues to resist his demands to be more forthcoming regarding the number of fake and spam accounts, sending company shares tumbling by 5%.
"Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement," attorney Mike Ringler said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that attached Musk's latest demand letter to Twitter.
Musk's legal team argued that the failure by Twitter's board to give him a more detailed information on fake and spam accounts constituted a breach of the agreement for him and other investors to take the microblogging site, now listed on the New York Stock Exchange, at a price of $54.20 a share.
Twitter's shares were down $2.12, or 5.3%, to $38.04 by 10:00 a.m. ET (14:00 Greenwich Mean Time) as investors reacted to Musk's latest action regarding the company.
Twitter's CEO Parag Agrawal has said research showed that "well under 5%" of the social media platform's users over the last four quarters have been spam or fake accounts versus Musk's contention that the number is greater.
Musk has refused to accept the provided number, saying his takeover offer will be "temporarily on hold" until the dispute is resolved.
Monday's filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission showed that Must was not budging from his position.
"Mr. Musk has made it clear that he does not believe the company's lax testing methodologies are adequate so he must conduct his own analysis," Ringler said in the filing. "The data he has requested is necessary to do so."
Twitter has said it would be in breach of confidentiality agreements it has with its users if it turns over the information Musk has requested.
The privilege of anonymity, noted by some analysts, is ironically preferred by many Twitter users who side with Musk in his various online spats on the platform.
