Elon Musk is pulling out of a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter.
AP
- Elon Musk’s lawyers told the SEC he was terminating his offer to buy Twitter.
- Musk said in April he would pay $44 billion for the social media platform.
- Read the letter in full.
Elon Musk has abandoned his deal to acquire Twitter for $44 billion in a letter filed by his lawyers with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
In the letter from Musk’s legal representatives Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP to Twitter’s chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, the social media platform was accused of failing to comply with its obligations to disclose the number of fake accounts.
The lawyers wrote: “Twitter has not complied with its contractual obligations. For nearly two months, Mr Musk has sought the data and information necessary to ‘make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform’.”
“This information is fundamental to Twitter’s business and financial performance and is necessary to consummate the transactions contemplated by the merger agreement because it is needed to ensure Twitter’s satisfaction of the conditions to closing, to facilitate Mr Musk’s financing and financial planning for the transaction, and to engage in transition planning for the business,” the filing stated.
It continued: “Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information. Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr Musk’s requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr Musk incomplete or unusable information.”
Musk’s lawyers said he and advisers Morgan Stanley had been requesting “critical information” on Twitter’s number of monetizable daily active users since May 9, but had not been given a response.
Musk now faces a legal battle with Twitter which may force him to close the sale.
Read the letter in full:
