Elon Musk accused Twitter of turning down a renewed offer.
Elon Musk accused Twitter of refusing to accept his renewed offer to buy the social media network for $54.20 per share on Thursday.
The wealthy entrepreneur also requested that a trial slated to commence later this month be postponed. Musk and Twitter have been locked in a court dispute since he made a bid to buy the platform and then opted to back out when the business allegedly failed to furnish him with information regarding bot accounts that he wanted.
“Twitter will not accept “yes” as an answer. Surprisingly, they have insisted on going with this case, putting the acquisition at danger and gambling with the interests of their stockholders, “Musk’s lawyers stated in a fresh court statement.
“Twitter will not accept “yes” as an answer. Surprisingly, they have insisted on going with this case, putting the acquisition at danger and gambling with the interests of their stockholders, “Musk’s lawyers stated in a fresh court statement.
“Mr. Musk was given billions of dollars off the sale price by Twitter. Mr. Musk declined because Twitter attempted to impose self-serving terms on the contract. Any statement to the contrary is a lie,” Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro of Quinn Emanuel, said.
Twitter responded by saying it opposed the request to halt the trial.
Musk stated that he expects the transaction to be completed by October 28: “As a result, there is no need for an expedited trial to require Defendants to do what they are already doing, and this action has become moot,” Musk said in brief.
Musk revealed on Tuesday that he had put out a proposal to Twitter that would complete the transaction at Musk’s original offer price of $54.20 per share – for a total cost of roughly $44 billion, according to a source familiar with the plan.
Twitter announced Tuesday that it plans to “complete the transaction at $54.20 per share.”
Musk first agreed to buy Twitter in April, before citing concerns about spam accounts on the platform and saying Twitter had not given him an accurate estimate of their number. Twitter refuted the accusation, claiming that it had provided Musk with material in accordance with the terms of the acquisition agreement.
Musk claimed in May that the agreement was on “temporary hold” due to bot fears. At the time, Dan Ives, managing director of equity analysis at Wedbush Securities, told ABC News that the complaint might be used as a pretext for Musk to renegotiate or abandon the transaction amid a market slump that had been particularly severe for tech companies.
Musk continued to threaten to back out of the transaction if Twitter didn’t offer more details regarding the presence of bots, finally terminating his Twitter acquisition in July.
Days later, Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk over his effort to terminate an acquisition agreement. That trial is set to begin in less than two weeks in Chancery Court, on Oct. 17.