Twitter sues Elon Musk for violating $44-billion deal

Twitter logo on a Pixel 4 XL
(Image credit: Joe Maring / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • Twitter sued Elon Musk for violating the agreement to buy the company. 
  • Twitter’s court filing indicates many of Musk’s violations have “cast a pall over Twitter and its business.”
  • Musk decided to terminate the deal last week stating the company did not provide accurate data on the number of spam or bot accounts on the platform. 

Twitter has sued Elon Musk for violating the $44-billion deal to buy the social media platform. According to documents, Twitter has also asked a Delaware court to order Musk to complete the merger agreement. 

"Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away," said the lawsuit.

The Tesla founder and CEO terminated the agreement to buy Twitter last week stating that the company did not disclose accurate data on the number of spam or bot accounts on the platform. His lawyer Mike Ringler, who authored the letter that was submitted to the SEC, said that Musk had reached out numerous times for that information. 

"He views Twitter’s non-responsiveness as a material breach of the Merger Agreement giving him the right to terminate the Merger Agreement if uncured," the letter states.

At the time, Bret Taylor, chairman of Twitter, said in a tweet that the board was committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Musk and that the board planned to “pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement.”

“We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery,” Taylor tweeted. 

Twitter indicated it did not provide more information with Musk regarding spam accounts over concerns that Musk would build a competing platform. 

Twitter’s court filing indicates many of Musk’s violations have “cast a pall over Twitter and its business.”

Shruti Shekar
Editor in Chief

Shruti Shekar is Android Central's managing editor. She was born in India, brought up in Singapore, but now lives in Toronto and couldn't be happier. She started her journalism career as a political reporter in Ottawa, Canada's capital, and then made her foray into tech journalism at MobileSyrup and most recently at Yahoo Finance Canada. When work isn't on her mind, she loves working out, reading thrillers, watching the Raptors, and planning what she's going to eat the next day.