Twitter was hit hard Monday on Wall Street by Elon Musk’s abandonment of his plan to buy the social network, a decision “invalid and unjustified” according to the platform which requires that the multi-billionaire respect his commitments.
The title of the company fell 11.3% on the New York Stock Exchange to end at 32.65 dollars, 40% less than what the entrepreneur had offered when he announced his intention to put hand on Twitter mid-April.
Several months later, Mr. Musk let it be known in a letter to Twitter on Friday that he was terminating this agreement, considering that the company had not “respected its commitments by not communicating enough information on the false accounts and spam, and minimizing their number”. Mr. Musk also invokes several recent decisions by Twitter such as the recruitment freeze, contrary to his obligation for the company to continue to operate normally.
“False”, Twitter’s lawyers officially replied in a letter sent Sunday to Elon Musk and his legal representatives, and published Monday evening on the site of the American authority of the financial markets.
“Contrary to your letter’s assertions, Twitter did not breach any of the obligations under the agreement,” they wrote.
Twitter claims to have provided the requested information on the number of inauthentic accounts on its platform, which it claims to be less than 5% while the multi-billionaire estimates it to be much higher.
The two camps are therefore now engaged in a legal tussle, which could cost Mr. Musk several billion dollars if he were to lose.
Twitter’s stock plummeted 11.3% on Wall Street on Monday. The title of the company ended at 32.65 dollars on the New York Stock Exchange, 40% less than what the multi-billionaire had offered when he announced his intention to get his hands on Twitter in mid-April.