In an unexpected turn of events, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced his intention to end the $44 billion Twitter deal in a letter sent to the social media giant’s board of directors.
In short, one of the world’s richest men is not happy with the lack of information Twitter provides about spam and fake accounts. According to the letter, which is addressed to Twitter chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, Musk is ending the merger because Twitter “appears to have made false and misleading statements,” which Musk used as a benchmark for his decision.
Elon Musk initially agreed to buy the cryptocurrency-friendly social media platform for $54.20 per share, or about $44 billion, in cash. Twitter’s board was pleased with the decision, voting unanimously in favor of the deal that would return it to a private company.
However, the letter filed with the SEC argued that Twitter was very unclear on two crucial pieces of information: Twitter’s process for auditing the inclusion of spam and fake accounts in monetizable daily active users (mDAUs), as well as identifying and suspending such accounts. The social media giant has reportedly been tight-lipped about daily mDAU measurements for the past two years. The letter says:
“In short, Twitter has not provided the information Mr. Musk has requested for nearly two months, despite his repeated and detailed clarifications intended to simplify Twitter’s identification, collection, and disclosure of the information more relevant sought in Mr. Musk’s original requests.”
The letter then claims that Twitter is violating two sections of the merger agreement (Sections 6.4 and 6.11). The letter says the social media company has been on notice of its breach since June 6 and “any cure period granted to Twitter under the merger agreement has now expired.”
However, Twitter’s board is definitely not happy with Elon Musk terminating the deal and walking away from the transaction. In a tweet, Twitter president Bret Taylor said the board is watching to close the transaction at the previously agreed price and, where appropriate, will initiate legal action. “We are confident that we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery,” Taylor wrote.
In April 2022, Musk revealed his intention to remove all spam and scam bot accounts from Twitter if his $44 billion offer was accepted. Its master plan to improve the social media platform also included the introduction of new features such as the ability to edit tweets and view edit history.
Related: Yuga Labs co-founder forewarns of potential attack, claims Twitter insider is involved
Over the past few years, Twitter account hackers and bots have contributed to numerous scam and phishing attempts. As of late, the co-founder of Yuga Labs, a pseudonym known as Gordon Goner, issued a warning about an orchestrated attack on his social media accounts while alleging the involvement of a Twitter insider.
Previously, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s crypto exchange Binance had committed $500 million to co-invest in Twitter along with Elon Musk.
