Elon Musk has now countersued Twitter over the unsettled $44 billion buyout deal, marking the latest move in the bitter back-and-forth between the two powerhouses.
Earlier this year, Twitter announced it had entered into a ‘definitive agreement’ to be bought by Musk, who vowed to make the site ‘better than ever’ under his ownership.
However, since then, Musk has tried to back out of the deal, claiming the social media giant had ‘misled’ him - alleging that he hadn’t been given correct information about the number of fake accounts and bots on the site, or the way the social media platform registers daily active users.
After Twitter confirmed it would be suing the Tesla billionaire for going back on the agreement, he has now hit back by countersuing.
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Musk filed a lawsuit yesterday, Friday 29 July - just hours after chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered a trial to determine whether or not Musk can walk away from the deal, due to begin on 17 October.
While the 164-page lawsuit is not yet publicly available, under court rules a redacted version is expected to be published soon.
In Twitter’s original lawsuit, which was filed on 12 July, the company said Musk needed to honour their agreement - having even used Musk's own tweets against him as hopeful evidence that his back-pedalling is simply due to the deal no longer serving his 'personal interests’.
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“Musk entered into a binding merger agreement with Twitter, promising to use his best efforts to get the deal done,” the lawsuit said.
“Now, less than three months later, Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.”
The lawsuit also laid out why Twitter thinks Musk is playing around with the deal, with lawyers alleging: "Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, Musk apparently believes that he - unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law - is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away.
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"This repudiation follows a long list of material contractual breaches by Musk that have cast a pall over Twitter and its business."
Twitter bosses have previously said they believe Musk will eventually follow through on the deal, with chairman Bret Taylor tweeting: “The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement,
“We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.”
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Jess Hardiman