Now it is official: Twitter demands from tech billionaire Elon Musk (51) in court to implement the agreed takeover of the online service. As announced, the online service filed a lawsuit in the US state of Delaware, as board chairman Bret Taylor (43) announced on Tuesday. The competent court can order the completion of a takeover. Twitter also expressly demands this in the 60-page lawsuit published by US media.
The online platform accuses Musk of breach of contract, as the lawsuit shows. Musk’s reason for withdrawing from the billion-euro deal agreed in April was “hypocrisy,” Twitter continued.
The founder of the electric car manufacturer Tesla and the richest person in the world had the planned takeover of Twitter for a price of 44 billion dollars burst last Friday. As justification, he referred to his previously unsubstantiated claims that there are significantly more fake accounts on Twitter than the company’s estimate of less than five percent. His lawyers argued, among other things, that Twitter failed to fulfill its contractual obligation to provide Musk with the necessary data access to verify the numbers. Twitter dismissed this, calling Musk’s withdrawal “invalid and unlawful.”
Twitter: Musk wants to escape contract by any means necessary
A day later, Twitter’s lawyers added the lawsuit again: Musk probably believes that he can simply withdraw from a contract that has been concluded, to denigrate the company, mess up its business and destroy shareholder values.
“Musk’s conduct simply confirms that he wants to escape from the binding contract he voluntarily signed and that he wants to damage Twitter in the process,” the lawsuit reads. “Twitter has suffered irreparable harm as a result of the suspect’s violations and will continue to suffer irreparable harm.”
The court will now have to decide whether or not Musk can withdraw from the agreement. In their agreement, the multi-billionaire and Twitter had stipulated a contractual penalty of up to one billion dollars – around one billion euros – if one party withdraws.
Musk and Twitter agreed in April that the celebrated and controversial entrepreneur would take over the online platform. Musk’s withdrawal from the agreement is likely to result in a long and costly legal battle.