(Headline USA) Elon Musk has threatened to walk away from his deal to buy Twitter, accusing the company of refusing to provide accurate information about how many spam accounts use the platform.
Attorneys for Musk, who reached a deal with Twitter earlier this year to take the company private for $44 billion, said Twitter’s board of directors has not given him the necessary data that would “facilitate his evaluation of spam and fake accounts on the company’s platform,” according to a letter that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.
Twitter’s alleged stonewalling amounts to a “clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement,” his attorneys wrote.
“Mr. Musk believes the company is actively resisting and thwarting his information rights (and the company’s corresponding obligations) under the merger agreement,” they continued.
“Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement.”
Musk’s concern seems to be that if the deal goes through as is, he would be overpaying for a platform dependent on spam accounts and bots. However, Twitter insisted it won’t let Musk back out of the deal.
“We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.
Twitter previously reported Musk that roughly 5% of accounts on its site are spam accounts or bots. But Musk has said repeatedly that he believes the real number is closer to 50% or even 75%.
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— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2022
Twitter’s explanations for how it counts bot and spam accounts have been nothing more than an “attempt to obfuscate and confuse the issue,” Musk’s attorneys said.
“Twitter’s latest offer to simply provide additional details regarding the company’s own testing methodologies, whether through written materials or verbal explanations, is tantamount to refusing Mr. Musk’s data requests,” Musk’s lawyers said Monday.
“Mr. Musk has made it clear that he does not believe the company’s lax testing methodologies are adequate so he must conduct his own analysis.”
