Elon Musk accused Twitter of “blocking” the right to learn more about its user base and threatened to abandon the company’s $44 billion bid.
Musk’s lawyer said in a letter to regulators that he has the right to make his own measurements regarding spam accounts.
The letter formalized the dispute that had been going on for weeks after Musk put the deal to buy the company “on hold” to learn more.
Spam and fake accounts account for no less than 5 percent of daily users, as Twitter publicly reports, Musk said. He said he believes he has a much larger share.
His lawyer, Mike Ringler, wrote in the letter that Musk “as the future owner of Twitter” has the right to request the necessary data to prepare to take the business run by the company into his own possession and to facilitate its financial transaction. He added that for this, Twitter must have a complete and accurate knowledge of its active user base, which is the core of its business model.
Analysts said Musk may be using the spam account issue to renegotiate the price. The fact that weeks of market turmoil devalued many companies made Musk’s offer of $54.20 per share for Twitter even more generous.
In the letter, Ringler stated that Musk “believes that, based on Twitter’s behavior to date, and particularly the most recent correspondence, the company is actively resisting and thwarting its right to information.”
“This is a clear material breach of Twitter’s obligations under the merger agreement, and Musk reserves all rights arising from it, including the right not to complete the transaction and the right to terminate the merger agreement.”