Elon Musk has threatened to back out of his $44 billion Twitter bid and accused the company of failing to provide information about spam bot accounts.
In a letter to Twitter dated Monday, Musk’s lawyers wrote that the company has refused to provide information that would “facilitate his evaluation of spam and fake accounts on the company’s platform”.
The letter was included in a filing from Twitter with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
It pointed out that Musk has repeatedly asked for the information since early May so he could evaluate how many of the company’s accounts are fake.
“Mr. Musk believes the company is actively resisting and thwarting his information rights (and the company’s corresponding obligations) under the merger agreement,” the attorneys wrote.
“Mr. Musk reserves all rights resulting therefrom, including his right not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement,” they added.
Twitter shares fell 5% Monday to $38.14. The takeover price was $54.20 per share, meaning investors may be skeptical of the deal.
While Musk placed the deal on hold last month, Twitter said that it will hold the Tesla CEO to the original terms, reported the Wall Street Journal.
In an SEC filing last week, Twitter offered to give Musk additional information on how it measures spam bots, but Musk’s attorneys claimed the offer was “merely an attempt to obfuscate and confuse the issue”.
The letter says that Musk does not have to explain his rationale for requesting data or submit to “new conditions the company has attempted to impose on his contractual right to the requested data”.