Elon Musk threatens to ABANDON $44billion Twitter deal

Elon Musk has threatened to pull out of his deal to purchase Twitter as he accuses the social media giant of ‘resisting and thwarting’ his right to information about spam and fake accounts on the platform.

He alleged Twitter was in a ‘clear material breach’ of its obligations and he ‘reserves all rights’ to terminate the merger agreement. 

Earlier in March, Musk said he would put the deal ‘temporarily on hold,’ while he waited for the company to provide data on the proportion of its fake accounts. 

The SpaceX CEO also tweeted last month that he ‘cannot move forward’ with his $44 billion purchase of the platform until he is provided the requested data.

Musk has speculated that spam bots could make up at least half of Twitter’s users, more than 10 times the company’s official estimate. 

Elon Musk has threatened to pull out of his deal to purchase Twitter as he accuses the social media giant of ‘resisting and thwarting’ his right to information about spam and fake accounts on the platform

In a letter to Twitter on Monday, Musk’s attorney argued the terms of the billionaire’s purchase agreement requires the platform to provide the requested data.

He also disputed the company’s alleged claim that it is only required to provide information for the ‘limited purpose’ of closing the deal. 

‘Musk is entitled to seek, and Twitter is obligated to provide, information and data for, inter alia, “any reasonable business purpose related to the consummation of the transaction,”’ the letter stated. 

‘Musk believes Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing further suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data due to concern for what Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover.’ 

Last month, Musk claimed that he wanted to pause on the purchase deal to verify false or spam accounts represented fewer than 5 percent of the company’s 229 million users during the first quarter, as Twitter reported.

If Twitter’s reporting was accurate, that would mean that there are fewer than 11.4 million fake accounts that are targeted for ads. 

The billionaire said he and his team wanted to conduct their own audit of 100 Twitter followers to check how many are bots and spam accounts. 

In Monday’s letter, the billionaire stated if Twitter is ‘confident’ in its published spam estimates, he ‘does not understand’ the company’s reluctancy to allow him to ‘independently evaluate those estimates.’

‘As Twitter’s prospective owner, Musk is clearly entitled to the requested data to enable him to prepare for transitioning Twitter’s business to his ownership and to facilitate his transaction financing. To do both, he must have a complete and accurate understanding of the very core of Twitter’s business model—its active user base,’ the letter stated.

‘In any event, Musk is not required to explain his rationale for requesting the data, nor submit to the new conditions the company has attempted to impose on his contractual right to the requested data. 

‘At this point, Musk believes Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing further suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data due to concern for what Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover.’