In a totally expected move, the ongoing saga between Twitter and Elon Musk has taken a litigious turn. This as the social media platform has filed a lawsuit against Musk for trying to exit the $44 billion purchase deal.
The lawsuit was filed in the Court of Chancery in the state of Delaware, with access to the documents available here (PDF). Bret Taylor, a Twitter chairman, tweeted out the details this week, with current CEO Parag Agrawal retweeting it.
Twitter has filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery to hold Elon Musk accountable to his contractual obligations.
— Bret Taylor (@btaylor) July 12, 2022
“Twitter brings this action to enjoin Musk from further breaches, to compel Musk to fulfill his legal obligations, and to compel consummation of the merger upon satisfaction of the few outstanding conditions,” the platform’s lawsuit explains.
Musk responded in his usual fashion, with a “lol”.
Oh the irony lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2022
As has been well documented, ever since Musk announced his intent to purchase the company in late April for $54.20 a share, the tech billionaire has been looking for ways to lessen the purchase price. Added to this is his taking umbrage with Twitter’s accuracy in disclosing how many spam/bot accounts are active on the platform.
This has proved a particular sticking point and seemingly the hill that Musk wishes to die on in order to bring the purchase to an end.
Whether he is successful in his attempts remains to be seen, with three possible outcomes at this point.
The first is Musk choosing to bite the bullet and pay the agreed $1 billion penalty for backing out of the deal. Next is Musk is seen as having a case, with Twitter in violation in terms of the negotiation process and the deal being called off entirely.
Lastly that Musk has no case and is forced to follow through on his $44 billion purchase, which would represent a significantly inflated price given Twitter’s shares have fluctuated heavily in value over the past few weeks.
Either way what started as an expensive joke, could cost both parties, whether that be to their finances or their reputations.
