Elon Musk threatens to cancel deal to buy Twitter

Why is Musk asking about fake Twitter accounts? 1:48 (CNN) – Elon Musk made his most direct threat yet to cancel the purchase of Twitter on Monday, openly accusing the company of violating the merger agreement by not providing the data he requested on spam and accounts. false. In a letter to Twitter’s chief legal, policy and trust officer Vijaya Gadde, Musk said the platform is “actively opposing and thwarting his information rights” as laid out in the agreement. “This is a clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement and Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to execute the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement,” he wrote. Twitter a lawyer representing Musk. Musk has demanded that Twitter hand over information about its testing methodologies to back up its claims that bots and fake accounts make up less than 5% of the platform’s active user base, a figure the company has consistently cited for years on Twitter. repetitive public disclosures. Musk has also called for an independent assessment of his own based on data from Twitter. Twitter shares fell 5% in early trading on Monday. Even before the latest news, Twitter shares were trading well below Musk’s takeover offer of $54.20 a share. Which likely indicates investor skepticism about the deal. Why was the Twitter purchase deal paused? What Elon Musk says 0:52 The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has long endorsed his company’s spam figure. Elon Musk’s takedown on Twitter Musk argues that the actual number of fake accounts is likely much higher, potentially as high as 90%. Tesla’s CEO has previously said the acquisition “cannot proceed” until the company provides “proof” of the number he claims is spam. Some Wall Street analysts point out that this brake may be a case of buyer’s remorse and an effort to pressure Twitter to negotiate a price lower than the US $ 44,000 million established in the agreement. From the beginning, questions have been raised about how Musk would finance the acquisition. Social media stocks have also taken a hit in recent weeks amid widespread market nervousness. Monday’s letter speculated that Twitter may be “withholding requested data out of concern about what Mr. Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover.” The letter also claimed that Twitter had attempted to restrict access to the information by interpreting the merger agreement narrowly, so that providing the data would fall outside the scope of the company’s contractual requirements. But the letter pointed out that even under Twitter’s narrow definitions, it still has an obligation to provide the information. In separate securities documents, Twitter previously revealed that Musk had waived a due diligence clause in the deal that might have made it easier for him to back out. Without the clause, Musk could face a more difficult scenario and the prospect of litigation. In brokering the deal to buy Twitter, Musk has made spam bots on the platform a central issue. He has vowed to defeat them or “die trying”, even as he has described Twitter as vital to “the future of civilization”.