On September 13 (local time), Twitter shareholders approved the $44 billion bid of billionaire Elon Musk to buy the social media platform. At present, Twitter’s trading price is under $42 compared to the approval of Musk’s offer at $54.20.
Notably, Musk has attempted to back out from the deal, alleging there were problems with the business of the company. However, Twitter is using all its might to go ahead with the deal. Both Musk and Twitter are currently in a court battle over the deal.
Twitter, in a statement, said that the shareholders had given their assent to the deal. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal gave brief remarks at the virtual meeting for the voting following which the assent was given. Twitter said, “Based on a preliminary tabulation of the stockholder vote, approximately 98.6% of the votes cast at the Special Meeting approved the proposal to adopt the Merger Agreement.”
The company further added, “Twitter stands ready and willing to complete the merger with affiliates of Mr Musk immediately, and in any event, no later than on September 15, 2022, the second business day following the satisfaction of all conditions precedent, which is the timeline required by the merger agreement.”
The court battle between Musk and Twitter
Musk and Twitter are currently fighting a court battle following the announcement Musk made suggesting he was cancelling the $44 billion purchase of the company. The reason that he gave was he was misled by the social media giant about the number of bot accounts on the platform. However, Twitter rejected his claims.
Reports suggest that Twitter claimed that it had suffered substantial financial losses as a result of Musk’s announcement of withdrawing from the deal. Earlier in September, Musk had suggested that he might go ahead with the acquisition of Twitter and provided complete details on fake and bot accounts. A shareholder lawsuit was also filed in late July, suggesting the reason to pull the plug on the deal given by Musk was ‘lame.’
In a recent hearing that was held on September 7, a US Judge allowed Musk to amend his complaint against Twitter after his attorneys requested the same following a whistleblower’s complaint about the security standards of the social media giant. However, the judge did not allow to delay in the lawsuit over pulling the plug on the deal to acquire Twitter.
Kathaleen McCormick, the chancellor of the Delaware court, said in her order that Musk could add the revelations made by the ex-security chief Peiter Zatko that surfaced in the month of August. However, she denied Musk’s request to push back the litigation.
Notably, former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko alleged in his revelations that Twitter was indulged in wrongdoings, including “and measurement of user engagement.” A Subpoena for Zatko was also filed by Musk’s lawyers, asking for “documents and communications” in connection to the allegations made by him against the company. Following Zatko’s allegations, a second deal termination letter was sent by Musk to Twitter.
In the second letter, Musk’s attorneys argued that if Zatko’s allegations were true, it “demonstrates that Twitter has breached” a set of provisions from its merger agreement with Musk. That included company’s compliance with all laws and assertion that it never filed misleading information to the security regulators.
Zatko, in his revelations, suggested that Twitter had violated a 2011 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) consent decree regarding user data privacy. He also alleged that the social media company violated “its general obligations under data privacy, unfair trade practice, and consumer protection laws and regulations.”
The decision over the deal between Musk and Twitter will be taken in a five-day trial that is scheduled for October 17 in the Delaware court.
