Elon Musk Seeks to Terminate Twitter Deal, Board Chair Says They Will Fight It

Elon Musk Seeks to Terminate Twitter Deal, Board Chair Says They Will Fight It

Friday afternoon looks like breakup day.

Elon Musk is seeking to terminate his $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter. For weeks he has complained that the company hasn’t provided the necessary data and information he needs to judge the number of fake or spam accounts, according to a regulatory filing Friday.

Twitter “is in material breach of multiple provisions of that agreement” and appears to have made “false and misleading representations” when entering into the agreement, according to a letter from Musk’s lawyer filed with securities regulators, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

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Bret Taylor, chairman of Twitter’s board of directors, tweeted Friday afternoon just before 6 PM, “The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.”

According to the WSJ, “At a minimum, Mr. Musk could be on the hook for a $1 billion breakup fee, based on the terms of his April 25 acquisition agreement with Twitter. But the deal gives him only limited leeway to walk away and pay only that amount—and it isn’t clear that his complaints about Twitter’s account data qualify. The agreement gives Twitter the right to try to force him to follow through on the acquisition if he seeks to cancel it for other reasons.”