Elon Musk conveys to Twitter his intention to terminate the purchase contract

MADRID, 9 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The founder and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, has communicated this Friday to Twitter his intention to terminate the purchase contract of the social network, considering that the company is "in substantial breach of multiple provisions" of the agreement that both parties signed on Thursday. last April.

In a letter shared by the tycoon's legal team, Musk has informed Twitter of his intention to paralyze the purchase of the social network after having formally requested information related to the number of false accounts found on the platform on several occasions. as well as Twitter's way of auditing and suspending them.

Musk had been publicly questioning Twitter's 'bot' numbers for weeks, which many analysts saw as an attempt to drive down the tech giant's share price. Twitter shares plunged more than 6 percent in post-announcement trading, according to CNN.

In mid-May, the tycoon decided to temporarily suspend the purchase of Twitter, agreed at the end of last April for some 44,000 million dollars (42,156 million euros), pending details that support the company's calculation that fake/spam accounts account for less than 5 percent of users.

Subsequently, through a letter sent in early June by Musk's lawyers to the United States Securities Market Commission (SEC), the billionaire's legal team considered Twitter's position a "substantial breach" of its obligations under the merger agreement, warning that Elon Musk "reserves all resulting rights, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement."

For its part, Twitter has announced its intention to initiate legal action to enforce Musk's purchase agreement.

"Twitter's Board is committed to closing the transaction at the price and terms agreed upon with Musk and plans to initiate legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident that we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery," the president detailed. of the Board of Directors of Twitter, Bret Taylor, in the social network.

Musk and Twitter agreed to a penalty of 987 million euros ($1 billion) to be paid by any party that withdraws from the deal, although if Twitter intends to force the purchase under the agreed terms, things could get more complicated for the South African tycoon, according to has detailed the aforementioned chain.