The Twitter logo and Elon Musk’s account on July 8, 2022 in Los Angeles (AFP / Chris DELMAS)
Twitter shares fell on Monday morning after Tesla boss Elon Musk decided to abandon his plan to buy the platform for $ 44 billion.
The title of the social network dropped 5.46%, to 34.80 dollars, around 11:05 GMT. It had lost 5.10% before the weekend.
Mr. Musk said in a letter to Twitter on Friday that he was terminating the agreement with the group’s board of directors, believing that the company had not respected its commitments by not communicating the part of fake accounts and spam.
The social network claims that the number of inauthentic accounts is less than 5%, a figure disputed by the multi-billionaire who considers it much higher.
The two sides are now engaged in a legal tussle, which could cost Mr. Musk a few billion dollars if he loses.
According to several American media, Twitter has joined the services of the New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. This same firm had represented the Californian group just after Mr. Musk’s offer in April, when the board of directors had initially chosen to resist the project before submitting to it.
Asked by AFP, Twitter did not immediately confirm this information.
For his part, Mr. Musk shared his first reaction on Twitter on Monday since the announcement of his withdrawal by posting an image containing several photos where he appears hilarious.
“They said I couldn’t buy Twitter. Then they refused to reveal fake account information. Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court. Now they have to reveal fake account information,” can we read next to each shot.
Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives said, “This is ‘extremely dangerous’ for Twitter and its board as the company takes on Musk in a Game of Thrones-style legal battle to save the company. transaction and/or recover at least $1 billion in severance pay.”
“We do not see any other bidders standing out at this time as the legal proceedings are about to begin in court,” adds the analyst.