So, there’s a bit of a snag in Elon Musk’s attempt to purchase Twitter for $44 billion; the world’s richest person believes Twitter is “resisting and thwarting” his right to information about spa and fake accounts on the platform.
He focused his ire on Twitter’s chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde. Twitter went so far as to report it to the SEC and said he “reserves all rights” to terminate the agreement.
There was some attorney-on-attorney communication going on Monday where Musk’s lawyer told Gadde that his client had asked for the data repeatedly since May 9. Twitter says that the data is only required to prove information for the limited purpose of closing the deal. Wrong, says Musk’s attorney.
Here’s an excerpt from the letter from Musk’s lawyer.
“Musk is entitled to seek, and Twitter is obligated to provide, information and data for any reasonable business purpose related to the consummation of the transaction; 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 due to concern for what Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover.”
Twitter has reported to the SEC that less than 5% of their 229 million users during the first quarter of 2022 were bogus. Musk’s plan is to do his own audit on 100 Twitter followers to see the number of spam and bots that make up that sample size.
The fact that Twitter is not cooperating makes it seem pretty apparent that they are hiding something. That’s what Musk’s lawyer thinks. Here’s more from the letter.
“As Twitter’s prospective owner, 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. To do both, he must have a complete and accurate understanding of the very core of Twitter’s business model—its active user base.”
Could Musk want the data to negotiate a better price? Would he owe a $1 billion penalty fee if he walks from the deal? Stay tuned.
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