Lawyers for the
The letter says Musk has repeatedly asked for the information since
Twitter CEO
Shares of
A message was left early Monday seeking comment from Twitter.
Musk agreed to buy Twitter for
Musk's lawyers say in the letter that Twitter has offered only to provide details about the company’s testing methods. But they contend that’s “tantamount to refusing Mr. Musk’s data requests,” and constitutes a “material breach” of the merger agreement that gives Musk the right to scrap the deal if he chooses.
“This is a clear material breach of Twitter's obligations under the merger agreement and
Musk wants underlying data to do his own verification of what he says are Twitter’s lax methodologies.
The Twitter sale agreement allows Musk to get out of the deal if there is a “material adverse effect” caused by the company. It defines that as a change that negatively affects Twitter’s business or financial conditions. Twitter has said all along that it's proceeding with the deal, although it hasn't scheduled a shareholder vote on it.
Last month Musk said that he unilaterally placed the deal on hold, which experts said he can't do. If he walks away, he could be on the hook for a
Musk’s latest maneuver shows how he is “looking for a way out of the deal or something that will get leverage for a renegotiation of the price,” said
“I doubt he would be allowed to walk away,” Quinn said. “At some point, the board of Twitter will tire of this and file a suit” asking a judge to force Musk to stick to the deal.
Twitter has disclosed its bot estimates to the
“If Twitter is confident in its publicized spam estimates,
The bot problem is a longtime fixation for Musk, one of Twitter’s most active celebrity users, whose name and likeness are often mimicked by fake accounts promoting cryptocurrency scams. Musk appears to think such bots are also a problem for most other Twitter users, as well as advertisers who take out ads on the platform based on how many real people they expect to reach.
The letter signed by Musk attorney
Twitter also has to cooperate with Musk’s effort to get the financing for the deal, including providing information that’s “reasonably requested” by Musk, the letter states.
The letter contends that Musk is not required to explain his rationale for requesting data or submit to “new conditions the company has attempted to impose" on his right to get the numbers.
It alleges that Musk is entitled to the data about the core of Twitter’s business model so he can prepare the transition to his ownership.
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