Twitter shares plunged in premarket trade Monday after Elon Musk said he is terminating his $44 billion bid to take the company private.
After the billionaire questioned the number of fake accounts and bots in the platform he finally decided to end the process, sending shares down more than 6%, and wiping about $1.8 billion off the company’s market value.
Musk’s attorney notified Twitter’s board that his client wants to cancel the deal, in the latest twist in the Musk-Twitter saga.
“Twitter has not provided information that Mr. Musk has requested for nearly two months notwithstanding his repeated, detailed clarifications intended to simplify Twitter’s identification, collection, and disclosure of the most relevant information sought in Mr. Musk’s original requests,” the lawyers wrote on Friday.
Twitter says it has given all the information on his claim that bots or fake accounts account for only 5% of active users.
After Bret Taylor, Twitter’s chairman, said the company would pursue legal action, Musk responded Monday morning by posting a meme mocking Twitter’s management.
Since Musk´s first claims, analysts have speculated that he is trying to renegotiate the $44 billion prize.
Elon Musk’s effort to terminate the deal is expected to be a complicated courtroom battle. He could also pay $1 billion as a breakup fee for walking away from the deal.
