Billionaire business magnate Elon Musk is seeking to pull out of his deal to purchase Twitter, according to a letter to the social media giant from attorney Mike Ringler. But Twitter plans to wage a legal challenge in a bid to compel Musk to stick to the original plan.
“For nearly two months, Mr. Musk has sought the data and information necessary to ‘make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform,'” the letter states.
“This information is fundamental to Twitter’s business and financial performance and is necessary to consummate the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement because it is needed to ensure Twitter’s satisfaction of the conditions to closing, to facilitate Mr. Musk’s financing and financial planning for the transaction, and to engage in transition planning for the business. Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information. Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr. Musk’s requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr. Musk incomplete or unusable information,” the letter continues.
CNBC reported that per the agreement, Musk had consented to fork over $1 billion if he withdraws.
But Twitter will seek to compel Musk to stand by the deal. Twitter board chair Bret Taylor tweeted, “The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.”
Musk had previously said that he planned to purchase the social media platform and transform it into a place where people could engage in free speech within the confines of the law.
Many conservatives have become fed up with Twitter’s censorship of certain types of speech, such as speech that deviates from the dogmas of radical leftist gender ideology or that questions the mainstream narrative on COVID-19 vaccines.