Twitter says Musk’s latest attempt to cancel the deal is ‘invalid and illegal’

September 12 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc. (TWTR.N) He said on Monday that payments made to a whistleblower did not breach any terms of Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover, after the world’s richest man made another attempt to scrap the deal.

In a letter to Twitter on Friday, Musk’s lawyers said Twitter’s failure to obtain his consent prior to making the $7.75 million payment to whistleblower Peter Zatko and his attorney violated the merger agreement, which limits when Twitter can make such payments.

Twitter’s lawyers responded on Monday, saying Musk’s reasoning for backing out of the deal was “false and wrong.”

Shares of the social media company fell nearly 2% to $41.37, well below Musk’s bid price of $54.20.

The letter to Musk’s lawyers comes ahead of a special meeting on Tuesday, where Twitter shareholders will vote on the deal. Read more

Zatko, who was sacked by Twitter in January as the company’s chief security officer, accused the social media company last month of falsely claiming it had a robust security plan and making misleading statements about its defenses against hackers and spam accounts.

Musk, who also runs electric car company Tesla Inc (TSLA.O)Twitter has accused of misrepresenting the spread of spam or bot accounts on its platform and has sought to terminate the deal, citing these reasons.

The informant will meet with the US Senate Judiciary Committee on September 13 to discuss the allegations.

“With the Musk camp now allowed to include Zatko’s allegations in his testimony for the State of Delaware, tomorrow’s session will be closely watched by Street,” Wedbush analysts wrote in a note.

The Twitter vs Musk trial is set to begin October 17th at Delaware Chancery Court.

Musk’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.

(Nivedita Balu reports in Bengaluru); Editing by Anil de Silva

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