Elon Musk threatens to pull the plug on Twitter takeover

Elon Musk says that Twitter is not honoring certain agreements regarding the takeover of the social media platform. That stands in a letter that the Tesla founder’s lawyers sent to the top of Twitter on Monday. The company would not have provided information about the presence of bots on Twitter and thereby violate the takeover agreements.

As part of the Twitter takeover, Musk is demanding that Twitter demonstrate that fewer than five percent of the platform’s users are bots, as he himself claims there are many more. Repeated requests for evidence would not have been honored, write the lawyers for the richest man in the world, who see it as an attempt to “thwart” Musk. The letter concludes with a warning that Musk has the right to terminate the acquisition agreement if the requests for information are not met.

Also read: Musk opts for Trump’s tactics when taking over Twitter

Tactics

In April, Musk announced he was acquiring Twitter for $44 billion. Commenting on the letter, a Twitter spokesperson said: to Yahoo Finance that Twitter “will continue to work together to share information with Mr. Musk to complete the transaction.” According to the company, the deal will go ahead according to “the agreed price and terms”.

After Musk’s letter went public, the value of Twitter’s stock on Wall Street fell by more than four percent. This is not the first time: in recent weeks, Musk has complained publicly about the bots issue on Twitter and previously even tweeted that the acquisition was “on hold”, which in turn led to unrest in the stock market.

Musk’s letter may be a tactic to delay the deal or drive Twitter’s value down. The bots issue would not be a reason to end the acquisition, but if the deal is not finalized by October 22 this year, the sales contract could be terminated.

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