Elon Musk said on Friday that he is ending his $44 billion deal for Twitter.
San Francisco:
Tesla CEO and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, said on Friday he is ending his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter after the social media company failed to provide information about fake accounts. . ,
Twitter shares were down 7% in extended trading. Musk had offered $54.20 per share in April.
Twitter chairman Brett Tylow said on the micro-blogging platform that the board is planning to take legal action to enforce the merger agreement.
“The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed with Mr. Musk…,” he wrote.
In a filing, Musk’s lawyers said Twitter failed or refused to respond to multiple requests for information on fake or spam accounts on the platform, which is fundamental to the company’s business performance.
“While Twitter is in material breach of several provisions of the agreement, it appears that Mr. Musk has made a false and misleading representation to enter into the merger agreement,” the filing said.
The announcement marks another turning point in a will that the world’s richest man struck a $44 billion deal for Twitter in April, but the purchase is put on hold until the social media company can prove that This is a spam bot. eat less. More than 5% of its total users.
The terms of the deal would require Musk to pay a $1 billion break-up fee for not completing the transaction.
Musk threatened to halt the deal unless the company showed evidence that spam and bot accounts accounted for less than 5% of users who viewed ads on the social media service.
The decision is likely to result in a prolonged legal dispute between the billionaire and the 16-year-old San Francisco-based company.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)