Elon Musk’s Twitter U-Turns And Public Attacks Were ‘Fraudulent’ Efforts To Secure Better Deal, Lawsuit Alleges
The topline
An investor in Twitter filed Monday a lawsuit against Elon Musk, accusing him de manipulating the market to obtain a better deal. It is his latest legal challenge following the turbulent purchase of the firm.
A Twitter investor sued Elon Musk in California Federal Court.
Here are some key facts
Musk’s repeated u-turns on whether he was willing to buy Twitter and his public attacks on the company were deliberate efforts to lower the firm’s share price and secure a better deal, investor Giuseppe Pampena alleged in a lawsuit.
According to the class action lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in San Francisco, Musk’s statements and behavior were intended to “create doubt about the deal” and drive down Twitter’s share price, giving Musk leverage to negotiate a better price.
Musk was reportedly hoping to take 25% of the $11 Billion original deal using this leverage.
Musk’s most recent u-turn, moving ahead with buying the company at the originally agreed upon price of $44 billion, shows he had no intention of walking away and was “bluffing all along,” the lawsuit said.
His conduct was “fraudulent and illegal,” the lawsuit alleged.
Musk did not respond immediately to the response from his law firm. SME’Request for Comment
News Peg
Musk initially offered to purchase Twitter for $44billion in April. However, he retracted the offer in July. Musk blasted the company publicly for issues such as the large number of bot or fake accounts and the approach it takes to freedom speech. Twitter filed suit to force the agreement through. Musk changed his mind and said that he would honor the terms of the agreement if Twitter stopped suing him. This was just weeks before the case was due to proceed to trial. The deal has not yet closed and the billionaire’s anticipated deposition in court has been postponed to allow both parties time to hash out details.
SME Valuation
$219.8 billion. That’s the estimated net worth of Musk, according to SME’He is the world’s richest man thanks to his real-time tracking system.
Additional Reading
Musk Sued by Twitter Investor Over ‘Fraudulent’ Buyout Flip-Flop (Bloomberg)
Elon Musk’s Bizarre Week: Twitter Deal Moves Ahead, Tesla Stock Tanks, Zooming’ With Putin (SME)
