JAKARTA - Twitter Inc on Thursday, August 4 rejected Elon Musk's claim in a Delaware court filing that he was tricked into signing a deal to buy the social media company. He also stated that it was "absurd and contrary to the facts."
Musk made the claim in a counterclaim filed under seal last Friday, July 29, which was published Thursday.
"According to Musk, he - the billionaire founder of several companies, advised by Wall Street bankers and lawyers - was tricked by Twitter into signing a $44 billion merger agreement. The story is absurd and as contradictory as it sounds." said a Twitter source on Thursday, August 4
The Twitter filing is the latest salvo in what has developed into an increasingly fierce legal row between the world's richest man and the social media giant.
The two sides will go on trial on October 17 after Musk attempted to scrap his deal to acquire Twitter over what he said was a misrepresentation of fake accounts on the site.
The San Francisco-based company is trying to force Musk to follow through on the deal and accuses him of sabotaging it because it no longer serves his interests.
In counterclaims published Thursday, Musk accused Twitter of increasing efforts to hide the true number from its users, as the market plummeted.
"When the long bull market is coming to an end, and the tide is about to drop, Twitter knows that providing the information they requested to the Musk Party will reveal that Twitter has been swimming naked," the counterclaims.
Twitter countered that Musk had not "defended a shred of evidence" for these "fact-free" allegations.
Musk also claims that "Twitter misunderstandings go much deeper than simply giving out the wrong number" about spam or fake accounts.
While "Twitter claims to have 238 million 'monetizable daily active users,' users who actually see ads" is roughly 65 million lower. Twitter maintains that the SEC's disclosures about monetizable daily active users are accurate.
Musk, the chief executive of electric car company Tesla Inc, offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share in April, saying he believed in its potential as a global platform for free speech.
But conditions worsened on Twitter as its share price lags behind Musk's takeover bid, and he began to express skepticism that bot and spam accounts represent less than 5% of users.
Musk sought to step down on July 8 without paying a $1 billion breakup fee, citing Twitter's failure to provide details about bot and spam accounts. Twitter sued him four days later.
Earlier this week, Twitter issued dozens of subpoenas to banks, investors and law firms backing Musk's takeover bid, while Musk issued subpoenas to Twitter advisers at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan over their work.
Legal experts said Twitter's request suggested the company wanted to know why Musk turned it down, or whether he was reneging on his obligation to secure sufficient financing.
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