Elon Musk on Monday scoffed at Twitter Inc’s threat to sue him after it moved to back out of a $44 billion takeover deal, tweeting that the social media company should disclose more information about bots and spam accounts. The series of tweets on Monday was the first public response from the head of Tesla Inc since he announced his intention to reject the offer on Friday because Twitter had violated several provisions of the merger agreement. “Twitter’s board must consider the potential harm to its employee and shareholder base from any additional internal data exposed in litigation,” said Benchmark analyst Mark Zgutowicz. Shares of Twitter fell about 5% to $34.85 in premarket trading on Monday. The stock closed at $36.81 on Friday, a 32% discount from Musk’s $54.20 offer, as it faces a double dip in the broader stock market and investor skepticism about the deal. Twitter plans to sue Musk as early as this week to force him to complete the acquisition, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Legal experts say the 16-year-old social media company has a strong legal case against Musk, but could opt for a renegotiation or settlement instead of a lengthy court battle. “We believe Elon Musk’s intentions to terminate the merger are based more on the recent market selloff than Twitter’s ‘failure’ to comply with his demands,” Jefferies analyst Brent Thill wrote in a note. “Absent a deal, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the stock bottom at $23.5.” The contract calls for Musk to pay Twitter a $1 billion breakup fee if he can’t complete the deal for reasons such as acquisition financing falling through or regulators blocking the deal. The charge won’t apply, however, if Musk terminates the deal on his own. Be smart with your money. Get the latest investment information delivered straight to your inbox three times a week with the Globe Investor newsletter. Sign up today.
