SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Elon
Musk has accused Twitter of fraud, alleging the social media platform misled
him about key aspects of its business before he agreed to a $44 billion buyout,
as their court fight heats up.
اضافة اعلان
The Tesla boss
lodged the claim as he fights back against Twitter’s lawsuit seeking to force
him to close the deal, which he has tried to cancel.
Musk argued in the
filing to a Delaware court that the number of users actually shown advertising
on the platform is about 65 million lower than the firm’s 238 million figure.
“Twitter’s
disclosures have slowly unraveled, with Twitter frantically closing the gates
on information in a desperate bid to prevent the Musk Parties from uncovering
its fraud,” the claim alleged.
Musk is asking the
court to free him from the agreement and make Twitter pay him an amount in
damages to be determined at trial, which set to open on October 17.
Billions of dollars
are at stake, but so is the future of Twitter, which Musk has said should allow
any legal speech — an absolutist position that has sparked fears the network
could be used to incite violence.
In its own filing,
Twitter rejected the mercurial billionaire’s argument, calling it “as
implausible and contrary to fact as it sounds.”
“According to Musk,
he — the billionaire founder of multiple companies, advised by Wall Street
bankers and lawyers — was hoodwinked by Twitter into signing a $44 billion
merger agreement,” Twitter said.
Musk last week
filed his countersuit, which was finally made public on Thursday.
The entrepreneur
accused Twitter of not just deceiving him, but also of lying to US market
regulators.
Musk relied on
Twitter’s filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission because he thought
doing his own diligence — digging into the company’s value — “costly and
inefficient”, his court claim said.
Analyst Dan Ives
said the social media platform’s share price gave a clear idea of how investors
think the fight will end.
“The countersuit
Musk filed against Twitter raised some interesting points, however legally
speaking the Street views this more of a sign of weakness than strength for
Musk,” he told AFP.
Twitter shares
closed up 3.5 percent at $42.52 on Friday, while Tesla shares ended down more
than 6.5 percent.
‘Twitter has
complied in every respect’
The legal fight is gathering speed as preparations have begun for the
five-day trial in Delaware’s Chancery Court, which specializes in complex,
high-stakes business world battles.
This battle
flows from Musk wooing Twitter’s board with a $54.20 per-share offer in April,
but then in July announcing he was terminating their agreement because the firm
had misled him regarding its tally of fake and spam accounts.
Twitter has
stuck by its estimates that bots make up fewer than five percent of users.
The social media
platform told the court that Musk’s claim that the false account figure tops 10
percent is “untenable.”
Twitter also
disputed Musk’s assertion he has the right to walk away if its bot count is
found to be wrong, since he didn’t seek information on that topic when he made
the buyout offer.
The company
accuses Musk of contriving a story to escape a merger agreement that he no
longer found attractive.
“Twitter has complied in every respect with the
merger agreement,” the company said in a court filing.
“Musk’s
counterclaims, based as they are on distortion, misrepresentation, and outright
deception, change nothing.”
The social media
platform has urged shareholders to endorse the deal, setting a vote on the
merger for September 13.
While fielding
questions at an annual Tesla shareholders meeting Thursday, Musk was asked
whether his potential ownership of Twitter might distract from his running of
the electric car company.
“I think Tesla,
you know, would continue to do very well even if I was kidnapped by aliens, or
went back to my home planet,” he joked, drawing laughter and applause.
“To be frank, I
don’t have an easy answer,” Musk added.
He assured
shareholders that, for now, he has no plans to leave his Tesla chief role.
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