Musk making up excuses to breach deal: Twitter

SAN FRANCISCO

Twitter has said the notion Elon Musk was “hoodwinked” into inking a $44 billion buyout deal defies reason and the facts.
In a filing on Aug.4, Twitter rejected counter claims made by Musk as he fights to walk away from the deal he inked in April to buy the company.

“According to Musk, he - the billionaire founder of multiple companies, advised by Wall Street bankers and lawyers - was hoodwinked by Twitter into signing a $44 billion merger agreement,” Twitter said.

“That story is as implausible and contrary to fact as it sounds.”

Musk last week filed a countersuit along with a legal defense against Twitter’s claim that the billionaire is contractually bound to complete the takeover deal.

A five-day trial that will consider Twitter’s lawsuit against Musk has been scheduled for October 17.

Musk in July announced he was ending their agreement because the firm had misled him regarding its tally of fake and spam accounts.

Twitter has stuck by its estimates that less than 5 percent of the activity on the platform is due to software “bots” rather than people.

The company also disputed Musk’s assertion that he has the right to walk away from the deal if Twitter’s bot count is found to be wrong since he didn’t ask anything about bots when he made the buyout offer.

“We are committed to closing the merger on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk,” Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal and board chairman Bret Taylor said in a letter to investors.

Billions of dollars are at stake, but so is the future of Twitter, which Musk has said should allow any legal speech - an absolutist position that has sparked fears the network could be used to incite violence.