Twitter sues Elon Musk as $44bn purchase deal falls apart

Social media giant Twitter has taken South Africa born multi-billionaire Elon Musk to court to try to force him to buy the social media firm.

It comes after Mr Musk announced he was walking away from his proposed $44bn acquisition of Twitter on Friday.

He claimed Twitter had not given information about the number of fake and spam accounts on the platform.

Now Twitter has asked a Delaware court to order the world’s richest person to complete the merger at the agreed $54.20 per Twitter share.

“Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, [Mr] Musk apparently believes that he – unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law – is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away,” said the lawsuit.

The lawsuit went on to accuse Mr Musk of “a long list” of violations of the merger agreement that “have cast a pall over Twitter and its business”.

Twitter’s share price has fallen more than 8% in the past month, and has tumbled from highs of more than $50 per share, as Mr Musk questioned the number of fake and spam accounts on Twitter.

On Friday, Mr Musk said he was pulling out of the deal, claiming a lack of information about spam accounts and inaccurate representations that he said amounted to a “material adverse event”.

He also said Twitter sacking executives meant it was not living up to its obligations.