Twitter: Elon Musk Is Making Up Excuses To Break the Buy Out Deal
The idea that Musk was “hoodwinked” into signing a $44 billion buyout deal defies logic and is unsupported by the facts, according to Twitter on Thursday.
Twitter rejected Elon Musk‘s counterclaims in a filing as he tries to back out of the agreement he signed in April to purchase the San Francisco-based business.
Musk claims that Twitter tricked him into signing a $44 billion acquisition agreement. Musk is a multi-billionaire founder who was counseled by Wall Street bankers and attorneys, Twitter stated.
“That story is as unbelievable and untrue as it sounds,”
Last week, Musk filed a countersuit and legal arguments in response to Twitter’s assertion that the billionaire is contractually required to finish the take over deal.
“The counterclaims are a made-for-litigation tale that is contradicted by the evidence and common sense,” Twitter argued in the filing.
On October 17, a five-day trial will take place to address Twitter’s case against Musk.
The Twitter board was courted by the Tesla CEO with a $54.20 per share offer, but he later revealed in July that they were breaking their deal because Twitter had misled him about the number of bogus and spam accounts it had counted.
Less than 5% of activity on Twitter, where shares last traded at $41.06 on Thursday, is attributed to software “bots” as opposed to actual users, according to Twitter’s estimates.
Twitter informed the court that Musk’s assertion that the percentage of false accounts above 10% is “untenable.”
The corporation also challenged Musk’s claim that he has the ability to back out of the agreement if Twitter’s bot count is discovered to be inaccurate because he made no inquiries concerning bots at the time of the buyout bid.
“Musk forwent all due diligence – giving Twitter twenty-four hours to accept his take-it-or-leave-it offer before he would present it directly to Twitter’s stockholders,” the filing said.
The business charged Musk with inventing a tale to get out of a merger deal that he no longer considered alluring.
According to the company’s statement with the Delaware Chancery Court, “Twitter has complied in every respect with the merger agreement.”
“Musk’s counterclaims, founded as they are on misrepresentation, plain dishonesty, and distortion, change nothing.”
A vote on the merger has been scheduled for September 13 after the social media platform asked shareholders to support the agreement.
In a letter to investors, Bret Taylor, the board chairman, and Parag Agrawal, the CEO of Twitter, stated that they were “committed to closing the merger on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk.”
Billions of dollars are at risk, but Twitter’s existence is also in jeopardy due to Musk’s absolutist attitude that the social media platform should permit any legal speech, which has raised concerns that it may be used to encourage violence.
AFP
