Elon seeks to terminate Twitter takeover deal

A new article on Social Media Today reports that Elon Musk has (unsurprising, IMO) filed filed a motion with the SEC to terminate his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, based on Twitter's failure to provide accurate information on the number of fake accounts on its platform.

A letter filed on behalf of Musk and his investment partners at Morgan Stanley says that Musk is seeking to cancel the acquisition due to a 'material breach of multiple provisions' of the original merger agreement. Accordingly:

According to Elon's team, despite repeated requests for qualifying information, Twitter had failed to provide them with the data required to make an accurate and true assessment of the number of fake accounts on its platform.

Musk's team says that it has been seeking more information from Twitter for nearly two months, with Twitter only providing limited access to the required data, in violation of the terms.

They say Twitter has failed to provide them with information on:

• Information related to Twitter's process for auditing the inclusion of spam and fake accounts in mDAU
• Information related to Twitter's process for identifying and suspending spam and fake accounts
• Daily measures of mDAU for the past eight (8) quarters
• Board materials related to Twitter's mDAU calculations
• Materials related to Twitter's financial condition

Because Twitter has failed to comply with these requests within a reasonable time period, that, Musk's team says, is a violation of the deal's terms, and is therefore reason enough to cancel the agreement.

Now obviously there will be a standoff between Elon and Twitter, which will force the latter to provide a detailed explanation of such to the SEC.

Chime in.