Twitter today said that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s desire to back out of his proposed $44 billion USD acquisition of the social media company is “invalid and wrongful” — reports CNBC.
Musk announced he was “terminating” the deal in a Friday letter to the SEC. In the filing, Musk’s lawyers alleged that Twitter breached multiple provisions of the merger agreement by failing to provide the celebrity billionaire with data and information he was entitled to. They also argued that the company underrepresented the number of spam/fake accounts on its platform.
“Twitter has breached none of its obligations under the Agreement,” the company said in a letter of its own. An attorney for Twitter, William Savitt of the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, believes the deal with Musk remains intact and enforceable.
“As it has done, Twitter will continue to provide information reasonably requested by Mr. Musk under the Agreement and to diligently take all measures required to close the transaction,” Savitt wrote in the letter.
“Twitter reserves all contractual, legal, and other rights, including its right to specifically enforce the Musk Parties’ obligations under the Agreement,” he added.
Musk, meanwhile, responded to Twitter’s legal threats with memes over the weekend. Even if Twitter fails to force Musk to keep up his end of the deal in court, the entrepreneur will still owe Twitter $1 billion in breakup fees.
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No, not necessarily true. It depends on which side is found to have caused the termination. While Musk initiated the termination of the deal, if the courts find that he rightfully did so because of misbehaviour on the part of the board, then no penalty. There are even conditions under which they pay him the termination fee.