According to the social media company’s attorneys, Elon Musk’s attempt to withdraw his offer to purchase Twitter is “invalid and wrong.”
In a letter sent by the company’s law firm, Twitter stated that it has “breached none of its obligations under the Agreement” and will “continue to provide information reasonably requested by Mr. Musk under the Agreement and to diligently take measures required to close the transaction.”
The letter arrives after Mr. Musk’s attorneys accused Twitter of misleading him about the company’s nature and the purchase.
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, they claimed that Twitter “made false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when entering into the Merger Agreement.”
Mr. Musk is allegedly withdrawing from the deal because Twitter executives allegedly concealed the full extent of bots and automated accounts on the platform.
Twitter has stated that they represent less than five percent of its active users, a figure that Mr. Musk stated he would not accept until he could verify for himself. Mr. Musk responded with the poop emoji after Twitter’s chief executive Parag Agrawal detailed in a lengthy thread how the company calculates the number of fake accounts.
Twitter subsequently granted Mr. Musk access to a “firehose” of real-time data, including API information, so he could examine the results. Especially since Twitter’s stock has dropped significantly due to the multibillionaire’s comments about the deal, the company is eager for the deal to go through.
“The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction at the agreed-upon price and terms with Mr. Musk and will pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement,” tweeted Twitter’s chairman, Bret Taylor. We are confident in our chances of success before the Delaware Court of Chancery.
The conflict between Twitter and Mr. Musk has had significant consequences for both sides.
Since launching his bid to acquire Twitter in April, Mr. Musk has reportedly lost approximately $49 billion due to Tesla’s stock decline.
Twitter, meanwhile, fired 30% of its recruitment team in a move that stunned employees; according to The Independent, Twitter revoked the employees’ access to online resources during their termination meeting.
In a previous meeting with Twitter employees, Mr. Musk alluded to job cuts by stating that the company’s “costs exceed revenue,” and employees believe these changes were made to appease a potential new owner.
