Elon Musk’s The legal team builds a strong case to pull the billionaire out of the $54.20 per share purchase deal Twitter, Inc. TWTR.
What happened: Musk’s team served Twitter with a third termination, citing a third basis, one said modified 13D filing with the SEC, which included a letter addressed to Twitter’s Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gade.
Musk alleged that Twitter violated a provision in the April 25 merger agreement that required the social media platform not to make any severance or termination payments or benefits to service providers between the time the agreement was signed and the closing, except in exceptional circumstances.
A Wall Street Journal report this week said Twitter paid $7 million Peter Zatko, his former security chief, as part of a settlement related to his lost compensation.
Zatko, aka Mudge, of the hacking community, later accused Twitter of compromising user security and filed whistleblower complaints with federal agencies, including the SEC and the Justice Department.
Musk learned of that payment when Twitter filed the separation agreement in court on Sept. 3, and due to violation of any section of the merger agreement, he has no obligation to complete the deal and has an additional basis to terminate the letter, signed by Musk’s attorney Mike Ringer claims.
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Why it matters: The billionaire previously cited the anomaly in the calculation of the bot account as the reason for ending the deal in the first termination letter sent on July 8. Later, on August 30, he exhibited another letter of resignation citing undisclosed additional bases, although it was believed to stem from Zatko’s claims.
Musk’s legal team had asked the judge investigating the case filed by Twitter for additional time to enforce the deal, giving the time needed to consider the charges. Judge
