Elon Musk Countersues Twitter Over $44B Deal: Here's What You Need To Know

Zinger Key Points
  • Musk agreed to buy Twitter for about $44 billion, but then sought to terminate the deal.
  • Twitter sued Musk for reneging on the merger agreement.

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk's battle with Twitter Inc TWTR took a new turn on Friday. Musk has countersued Twitter, escalating his legal fight against the social media giant on the $44 billion deal.

Musk filed the response hours after chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware court of chancery ordered a five-day trial in the Musk-Twitter legal battle, beginning Oct. 17. 

Musk's countersuit documents were not available immediately, but a redacted version could be made public under the court rules.

A Twitter shareholder sued Musk on Friday, asking the court to force Musk to close the deal and compensate the damages for the losses faced by the shareholders. 

Also Read: Elon Musk On Twitter Algorithm: 'You Are Being Manipulated' And Here's How To Fix It

Twitter has asked the Delaware court to speed up the process to protect its shareholders and the company from potential harm caused by Musk's efforts to "bully his way" out of the deal.

Last week, Musk's lawyer responded to the Delaware court's decision on fast-tracking the verdict, saying, "Twitter's sudden request for warp speed after two months of foot-dragging and obfuscation is its latest tactic to shroud the truth about spam accounts."

In April, Twitter and Musk announced that Musk would buy the social media company.  However, after the deal was signed, Musk accused Twitter of undercounting bot accounts and not giving him enough information about their handling of these accounts. 

According to Twitter, Musk's fake account claim was baseless and the company said Musk was bound by the buyout contract to close the deal at $54.20 per share. 

Later, Musk formally announced that he wanted to call off the deal, after which Twitter sued him in the Delaware Court of Chancery, asking him to close the deal.

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