Elon Musk threatens to walk away from $44 billion Twitter deal

Elon Musk is threatening to end his $44 billion agreement to buy Twitter Inc, accusing the firm of refusing to give him information about its spam bot accounts.

Lawyers for the Tesla and SpaceX CEO made the threat in a letter to Twitter dated Monday that the social platform included in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Twitter was in a "clear material breach" of its obligations and that Musk reserves all rights to terminate the merger agreement, the billionaire warned in a letter.

This is the first time the Tesla billionaire has threatened to walk away from the deal in writing as opposed to airing it on Twitter's social media platform.

The microblogging site had previously downplayed Musk's warning that the deal was "on hold", arguing that the data would help him prepare for his ownership of Twitter, not to carry out due diligence and reopen negotiations.

Earlier in March, Musk said he would put the deal "temporarily on hold", while he waits for the social media company to provide data on the proportion of its fake accounts.

Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal has said the number of fake accounts is less than 5% when measuring daily users -- a figure the company has previously cited in quarterly filings.

"Musk believes Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing further suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data," according to the letter.

A self proclaimed free-speech absolutist, Musk has questioned the accuracy of Twitter's public filings about spam accounts representing less than 5% of its user base, claiming they must be at least 20%.

Musk said he needed the data to conduct his own analysis of Twitter users and did not believe in the company's "lax testing methodologies."

"Musk is clearly entitled to the requested data to enable him to prepare for transitioning Twitter's business to his ownership and to facilitate his transaction financing," his lawyers said in the letter.

Musk has said that he has lined up financing for the deal, through equity and loans, pulling in top shareholders including Saudi Arabian investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Sequoia Capital.

Twitter shares were down 5.5% at $37.95 in early trading.

Source

"I Thought We Were Fired," Tweet Said. CEO Parag Agrawal Replied

After Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk's hostile takeover of Twitter in a $44 billion cash deal, the internet is abuzz with speculations on what's in store for the recently appointed CEO Parag Agrawal. However, Mr Agrawal seems to be confident in his future at the company. At least that's what he seems to be trying to project through replies to Tweets on the issue. 

On Twitter user Suhail's empathetic post regarding the Indian-origin CEO's earlier plans for the social media giant, Mr Agrawal indicated there was no cause for worry and "what matters most is the service and the people improving it".

"I feel for the current ceo of Twitter (@paraga) - he had all these plans and now lives with the same uncertainty of his whole team," Mr Suhail tweeted.

The Twitter CEO responded with thanks and seemed to dismiss the concern. 

"Thank you but don't feel for me. What matters most is the service and the people improving it," he said. 

Mr Agrawal had last night laid out his vision for the company before he took over the top job and expressed pride in his colleagues who continue to work "with focus and urgency despite the noise".

"I took this job to change Twitter for the better, course correct where we need to, and strengthen the service. Proud of our people who continue to do the work with focus and urgency despite the noise," he tweeted. 

PromotedListen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com

A parody account with the name "not Parag Agrawal" responded with "I thought we were fired". The Twitter CEO then clarified that his team and he were still there.

"nope! we're still here," he said.

Shortly after Mr Musk's successful bid to buy Twitter, the former CEO of the microblogging site Jack Dorsey had dropped a series of tweets, suggesting that he supports the move. He said Elon Musk was the "singular solution" that he trusted to "take it back from Wall Street and the ad model". 

He said Mr Musk's goal of creating a platform that is "maximally trusted and broadly inclusive" is the right one and is shared by Parag Agrawal, which is why he chose him as his replacement.

Source