Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, announced on Twitter on Friday that he was ending the agreement with the board of directors to buy the social network because of “false and misleading” information about the company.
In a letter published by the American stock market watchdog, his lawyers assure that Twitter did not respect its commitments made in the agreement, by not giving all the information requested on the number of fake accounts and spam.
Twitter has repeatedly said in recent weeks that the number of fake accounts on its platform is less than 5%.
The multi-billionaire and his team believe that the social network is lying about this which they claim affects the viability of his business, and therefore the value of the company. For weeks, experts have debated whether Elon Musk was planning to withdraw his offer or renegotiate a lower price.
Legal battles ahead
By ending his commitment to buy Twitter, the businessman exposes himself to substantial legal proceedings.
Both parties have pledged to pay severance pay of up to $1 billion in certain circumstances. On April 25, he seemed to have won his bet, despite Twitter’s attempts to push him away.
He made a definitive agreement with the group’s board of directors to buy the social network at a price of $54.20 per share, or $44 billion in all. Since then, the title of Twitter has lost more than a quarter of its value. Tesla’s stock also tumbled nearly 25% over that time.
