Elon Musk continues to fight Twitter to get out of the acquisition deal without paying around US$1 billion in penalty fees for wasting everyone’s time. This time The world’s richest man says that the initial agreement didn’t stipulate any severance or termination payments or benefits to any Company Service Provider. The Tesla and SpaceX founder is now being sued by Twitter for walking back on his promise to buy the social media company for a total of $44 billion in cash.
Musk had offered to buy Twitter after rejecting a seat on the company’s board and on 9 July he announced his intention to end his bid to buy Twitter, alleging multiple breaches of the agreement. Musk terminated the Merger Agreement on August 29, 2022, following an appeal made to US Securities Exchange Commission by Musk’s legal team.
Musk claims Twitter ignored security flaws in its basic platform in violation of financial rules, fraudulent practices, and of forsaking its security obligations in a complaint to the US Securities & Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the US Justice Department last month. It is reported that Musk claimed he reversed his decision after Twitter Inc. officials refused to disclose the real number of fake accounts on its platform
Twitter was savaged by former security boss Peiter “Mudge” Zatkoin’s whistleblower complaint, after he was terminated by the new CEO Parag Agrawal on January 19, 2022. It is alleged that during Mudge’s career at Twitter Inc., he uncovered extreme, egregious deficiencies in every area of his mandate, including user privacy, digital and physical security, platform integrity, and content moderation.
On September 9, Musk’s lawyers provided additional notice of termination of the Merger Agreement, in an effort to push for Musk to be allowed to walk away from the deal without paying any penalty fees.
Twitter Inc. hit back on Monday, claiming Musk’s appeal is “invalid and wrongful”. The social media behemoth insists that the Merger Agreement remains in effect accusing Musk of breaking the terms and conditions of the merger agreement by suddenly trying to wriggle out of having to pay a total of $44 billion in cash for the complete acquisition of Twitter Inc.
Musk has on several occasions attempted to delay his trial scheduled for 17 October 2022.
