Elon Musk on Monday threatened to walk away from his $44 billion bid to buy Twitter, accusing the company of refusing to provide information about its spam bot and fake accounts, The Associated Press reported.
Lawyers for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO made the threat in a letter to Twitter dated Monday that the company disclosed in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The lawyers wrote that Musk has repeatedly asked for the information since May 9, about a month after his offer to buy the company, so he could evaluate how many of the company’s 229 million accounts are fake.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has said that Twitter has consistently estimated that fewer than 5% of its accounts are spam.
Musk has disputed that, contending in a May tweet, without providing evidence, that 20% or more are bogus.
Twitter said in a statement that it has been cooperatively sharing information with Musk “in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement” and noted that the deal is in “the best interest of all shareholders.”
“We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms,” it added, according to AP.
- Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share in April. A number of Musk’s actions since, including a public spat with Twitter’s CEO about the fake accounts has led some experts to question whether the billionaire wants to use his loud complaints to negotiate a lower deal price or even walk away entirely.
The sale agreement allows Musk to get out of the deal if there is a “material adverse effect” caused by the company. It defines that as a change that negatively affects Twitter’s business or financial conditions. Twitter has said all along that it’s proceeding with the deal, although it hasn’t scheduled a shareholder vote on it.
Source: Arutz Sheva