Twitter (TWTR) has officially launched a lawsuit against Elon Musk for cancelling his $44 billion
U.S. acquisition of the social media company.
Lawyers for Twitter filed the lawsuit in a Delaware court. The action claims that Musk, who is the
chief executive officer (CEO) of electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) and the world’s richest
person with a net worth estimated at more than $250 billion U.S., should be forced to honor the
agreement he signed to pay $54.20 U.S. per share for the social-media platform.
Musk cancelled the deal on July 8 over concerns about the number of fake accounts and spam
on Twitter. The lawsuit takes issue with Musk’s claims, saying that the company “bent over
backwards” to provide Musk with the information he requested on fake Twitter accounts.
For his part, Musk claims that Twitter made “misleading representations” about the number of
fake accounts and spam on the social media site. Musk also says that Twitter has failed to
operate its normal course of business, launching a hiring freeze and firing senior leaders in
anticipation of the acquisition being finalized.
The deal that would have seen Musk buy Twitter included a termination fee of $1 billion U.S.
The agreement also includes a provision that allows Twitter to force Musk to honour the deal.
Twitter must prove that it didn’t violate the agreement and that Musk breached the pact by
abandoning the deal.
Twitter has asked that the case “Twitter v. Elon Musk, 22-0613, Delaware Chancery Court
(Wilmington)” be heard on an expedited basis this September.
Twitter’s stock is down 20% this year to $34.06 U.S. per share.
