Twitter Lawyer Sues Elon Musk, Ensures Acquisition Agreement Still Continues

Twitter challenges Elon Musk's decision. (photo: twitter @elonmusk)

JAKARTA - High-profile Twitter lawyers from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are preparing for a court battle. They are suing Elon Musk who filed documents trying to walk out of a $44 billion acquisition deal last week.

They filed a lawsuit in court this Monday, July 11 that said Musk's termination attempt was invalid because, "Mr. Musk and the other Musk Parties knowingly, willfully, intentionally and materially violated the Agreement."

Twitter is represented by Wachtell partner William Savitt, who has also represented other major companies such as Anthem and Sotheby's in cases against activist shareholders.

Musk said he wanted to leave the acquisition agreement because of concerns Twitter had misrepresented the amount of bot activity on the platform. But he wanted to fix the problem. In addition, Twitter will also not provide him with the information needed to investigate the claim. While Twitter confirmed that they had provided him with all the information he requested.

The question of who actually committed the material breach of the agreement can then decide which party owes the other a lot of money.

Some observers have suggested this entire episode was Musk's attempt to put the company at a disadvantage, with the stock price plunging, even down 11 percent today, so he could buy it for much less.

There's also a $1 billion breakup fee detailed in the merger agreement that one party may owe the other, as well as a clause for "specific performance," which Bloomberg author Matt Levine points out could allow the court to force Musk to proceed with dealing or pays a bigger penalty if the case doesn't go his way.

For now, however, what is certain is that Twitter's position continues to be "Agreement not terminated."

In response, Elon Musk, of course, tweeted.

pic.twitter.com/mvVUR4doqB

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2022