Twitter presented its response to Elon Musk’s complaint in court on Thursday, giving a more precise idea of the arguments of the billionaire who seeks to get out of the social network acquisition agreement and accuses him of having “thrown gunpowder in the eyes.”
The claims of the head of Tesla and SpaceX “are factually inaccurate, legally insufficient and commercially irrelevant. We look forward to trial,” tweeted Bret Taylor, chairman of the platform’s board of directors. In mid-July, Twitter sued Elon Musk in Delaware Chancery Court, a court specializing in business law, to force him to honor his $44 billion takeover commitment. The trial will begin on October 17. But on Friday, the world’s richest man struck back with a “confidential” complaint.
“According to Musk, the billionaire who has founded several companies and is advised by Wall Street bankers and lawyers, Twitter threw smoke and mirrors at him to sign the purchase agreement,” the social network said. “It’s an attempt to escape a contract that Musk no longer finds attractive since the stock market crashed,” his lawyers said.
“Numerous material misrepresentations”
Elon Musk approached Twitter in April and later signed a deal for $54.20 a share. He unilaterally terminated it in early July, claiming that the San Francisco-based company allegedly lied about the proportion of spam and automated accounts on its platform. According to the document presented by Twitter on Thursday, the Tesla boss accuses the board of directors of having hidden the true proportion of inauthentic accounts, which he says is around 10% of daily active users and exposed to advertising. Twitter estimates it to be less than 5%.
The official documents deposited by the platform auprès du gendarme boursier américain “contiennent de nombreuses fausses declaraciones materielles et omissions que faussent la valeur de Twitter et ont entrained Elon Musk à accepter d’acheter l’entreprise à un prix gonflé”, assurent them advocates of the businessman. Twitter’s strategy, they continue, has been to “play hide-and-seek” to prevent the buyer from “discerning the truth” for as long as possible.
Twitter responds that the businessman rushed the negotiations and that the fake accounts were never mentioned in the deal. Between the general decline in the stock market in recent months, falling ad revenue on social media (due to economic conditions), and public criticism of Elon Musk, shares of Twitter have plummeted to around $32 the 11 of July. It was worth about $41 on Thursday.
Source: BFM TV
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