NEW YORK, USA (AFP) – Twitter shares fell on Monday after Tesla CEO Elon Musk abandoned a $44 billion deal to buy the social media giant.
The platform stock was down 5.46 percent on Wall Street at $34.80 by around 7:05 a.m. (11:05 GMT). Before the weekend he had lost 5.10 percent.
Musk pulled the plug on Friday, accusing the company of making “misleading” statements about the number of fake accounts, according to a letter from his attorneys, a copy of which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Musk’s efforts to end the deal he signed in April are setting the stage for an epic court battle over a billion-dollar breakup fee.
The social network says the number of fake accounts is less than five percent, a number questioned by the multi-billionaire who believes the number is much higher.
According to several US media, Twitter hired the prominent New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Twitter declined to comment to AFP.
After the news broke, Musk tweeted, “They said I can’t buy Twitter. Then they would not reveal any bot information. Now they want to force me in court to buy Twitter. Now they have to disclose bot info in court,” accompanied by pictures of him laughing.
For analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, “This is a ‘Code Red’ situation for Twitter and its board as the company now faces Musk in a Game of Thrones court battle.”
“We are currently not seeing any other bidders appearing while court cases are being fought.”
© Agence France-Presse
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