Elon Musk announced on Friday that he would leave his offer which was full of $ 44 billion to buy Twitter after the company failed to provide sufficient information about the number of fake accounts. Twitter immediately replied, saying it would sue Tesla’s CEO to uphold the agreement.
The possibility of decomposing from this acquisition is only the newest twist in the story between the richest people in the world and one of the most influential social media platforms, and it might signify the battle of Titanic’s law in front.
Twitter can encourage the cost of breaking up $ 1 billion approved by Musk to pay in this condition. Instead, it seems ready to fight to complete the purchase, which has been approved by the Company Council and CEO of Parag Agrawal insisting he wants to be perfect.
In a letter to the Twitter council, Musk Mike Ringler’s lawyer complained that his client for almost two months was looking for data to assess the prevalence of “fake or spam” accounts on social media platforms.
Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information. Sometimes Twitter ignores Mr. Musk, sometimes has refused them for reasons that seem unjustified, and sometimes claimed to comply with when giving Mr. Musk information that is incomplete or cannot be used, “said the letter. Musk also said the information was fundamental to Twitter’s business and financial performance, and needed to complete the merger.
In response, the Chairman of the Twitter Council, Bret Taylor, Tweeted that the Board “is committed to closing the transaction on the agreed price and requirements” with Musk and “plans to take legal action to uphold the merger agreement. We are sure we will win in the Delaware Chancellor Court.” The trial court in Delaware often handles business disputes among many companies, including Twitter, which was included there.
Most of the drama around the agreement has been played on Twitter, with Musk – which has more than 100 million followers – lamented that the company failed to fulfill its potential as a platform for freedom of speech.
On Friday, Twitter shares fell 5% to $ 36.81, far below $ 54.20 approved by Musk to pay. Tesla’s stock, meanwhile, rose 2.5% to $ 752.29. After the market is closed and the Musk letter is issued, Twitter stock continues to decline while Tesla rises higher.
This is a disaster scenario for Twitter and its boards,” Wedbush and Ives analysts wrote in a note to investors. He estimated that the long court battle by Twitter to return the agreement or get a farewell fee of $ 1 billion.
On Thursday, Twitter tried to explain more about how it calculated the spam account in a briefing with journalists and company executives. Twitter said it removed 1 million spam accounts every day. The account represents far below 5% of the active user base every quarter. To calculate how many dangerous accounts, Twitter said it reviewed “thousands of accounts” taken randomly, using public and personal data such as IP address, telephone number, location and account behavior when active, to determine whether an account is real.
Last month, Twitter offered Musk access to “fire hose” from raw data about hundreds of millions of daily tweets, according to several reports at the time, even though the company and Musk did not confirm it.
One of the main reasons given by Musk because of his interest in taking personal Twitter is his belief that he can add value to the business by getting rid of his spam bot – the same problem as he calls an excuse to end the agreement.
The whole process is strange,” said Christopher Bouzy, founder of the Sentinel BOT research company, who tracks the fake Twitter account used for disinformation or harassment. “He knows about this problem. It is strange that he will use bots and trolls and accounts are not authentic as a way to get out of the agreement.
