The US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) called into question a May 17 Tweet posted by Elon Musk in a June letter sent to his attorneys at Skadden Arps.
In the Tweet, Musk stated that his proposed US$44bln acquisition of Twitter “cannot go forward” until the social media platform discloses key data regarding spam and bot accounts.
The SEC scrutinised why Musk failed to amend his public filing to reflect what the regulator saw as a clear intention to renege on the deal.
20% fake/spam accounts, while 4 times what Twitter claims, could be *much* higher.
My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate.
Yesterday, Twitter’s CEO publicly refused to show proof of <5%.
This deal cannot move forward until he does.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 17, 2022
Attorney Mike Ringler responded to the SEC, stating that Musk did not believe his Tweet “triggered any required amendment” to his public filing.
The SEC’s suspicions were justified when Musk officially rescinded his offer on Friday July 8, kickstarting an acrimonious legal battle between Twitter and the world’s richest man.
While Twitter attempts to force the deal through the courts, Musk’s legal defence rests on Twitter’s alleged failure to disclose vital information relating to the deal per Musk’s requests.
TWTR shares tanked 15% in response to the collapsed deal, but have since partially recovered.