Musk announced in legal documents on Friday that he would abandon his bid to buy Twitter for $44bn (£36.6bn). He believed Twitter misled him about the scale of bots and fake accounts on the platform and that the deal was void as a result, his lawyers wrote. However, Twitter says it considers the deal still active and will require Mr Musk to buy the company as previously discussed. “Twitter’s board is committed to closing the transaction at the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to take legal action to enforce the merger agreement,” Twitter chairman Brett Taylor tweeted. . “We are confident that we will prevail in the Delaware Court of First Instance.” Musk’s letter made it clear that his lawyers believed the deal was voided due to what it believes was a failure to provide detailed information about fake accounts and Twitter’s measures of daily active users. He closed by confirming that his lawyers intended to terminate the deal and walk away from the transaction. But Mr Taylor’s tweet suggests Twitter will fight that decision and force Mr Musk to keep the deal. The merger agreement includes a $1 billion breakup fee that Musk is supposed to pay Twitter if the deal doesn’t go through. But Mr Taylor’s tweet suggests he will push for the deal to be completed. In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk said Twitter “has not complied with its contractual obligations” regarding the deal, namely giving it enough information to “make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spammy accounts on its platform.” Twitter”. . Musk’s flirtation with buying Twitter appeared to begin in late March. That’s when Twitter said it contacted members of its board — including co-founder Jack Dorsey — and told them it was buying shares in the company and that it was interested in either joining the board, taking Twitter private or starting a competitor. Then on April 4, he revealed in a regulatory filing that he had become the company’s largest shareholder after acquiring a 9 percent stake worth about $3 billion. At first, Twitter offered Musk a seat on its board of directors. But six days later, Mr Agrawal tweeted that Mr Musk would not be joining the board after all. His attempt to buy the company came together quickly after that. Musk had agreed to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share, inserting a “420” marijuana reference into his offer price. He sold about $8.5 billion worth of Tesla stock to help finance the buyout, then stepped up his commitments to more than $7 billion from a diverse group of investors, including Silicon Valley heavyweights like the Oracle co-founder , Larry Ellison. Inside Twitter, Musk’s bid was met with confusion and falling morale, especially after he publicly criticized one of Twitter’s top lawyers involved in content moderation decisions. As Twitter executives prepared to move forward with the deal, the company instituted a hiring freeze, halted discretionary spending and fired two top executives. The San Francisco company has also laid off staff, most recently a member of its talent acquisition team. Additional reporting by The Associated Press
