• Twitter is suing Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, to force him to purchase the company.
• Mr. Musk abandoned his plan to acquire Twitter for $44 billion (£37 billion) on Friday.
• He alleged that Twitter had withheld data regarding the number of phoney and spam accounts.

Twitter is suing Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, in an effort to persuade him to purchase the social media company.

It follows Mr. Musk’s Friday announcement that he was abandoning his plan to acquire Twitter for $44 billion (£37 billion).

He alleged that Twitter had withheld data regarding the number of phoney and spam accounts using the service.

In order to force Mr. Musk to finalise the merger at the agreed-upon $54.20 per Twitter share, Twitter has now approached a Delaware court for an order.

“[Mr] Musk] apparently believes that he – unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law – is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away,” said the lawsuit. “Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement.”

The lawsuit continued by charging Mr. Musk with “a long list” of merger agreement violations that “have put a shadow over Twitter and its business.”

Bret Taylor, the chairman of Twitter, stated in a tweet that the company wished to “hold Elon Musk accountable to his contractual commitments.”

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According to the lawsuit, Mr. Musk, who is the CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, dropped out of the agreement because it “no longer serves his personal interests.”

The lawsuit said that after Mr. Musk approved the deal, the stock market and Tesla share prices plummeted.

“The cornerstone of Mr. Musk’s personal wealth, the value of his ownership in Tesla, has decreased by more than $100 billion from its peak in November 2021. Mr. Musk wants to leave, “It read.

It said, “[Mr] Musk wants to pass the burden of the market fall to Twitter’s owners rather than bear it, as the merger deal mandates.

In May, Twitter’s share price fell from highs of more than $50 a share and down more than 8% in the past month as a result of Elon Musk’s comments that the deal was “temporarily on hold” and that there were too many spam and phoney accounts on Twitter.

Musk announced his decision to leave the transaction on Friday, citing a “material adverse event” that included misleading statements and a lack of information concerning spam accounts.

He added that Twitter’s decision to fire executives demonstrated that company was not upholding its duties.

As a response, Twitter declared that it was “committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk” and that it intended to take legal action to enforce the agreement.

A $1 billion break-up fee is included in the original merger agreement.

As a “free speech absolutist,” Mr. Musk had promised to relax Twitter’s content control policies once he acquired the business.

He has been an outspoken opponent of some Twitter account bans, including the one of former US President Donald Trump.

Additionally, Mr. Musk has urged for greater openness in the system that permits select tweets to be promoted and sent to larger audiences on the site.

On Tuesday, Twitter stock increased by more than 4% in New York, and it increased by 1% in after-hours trading. The shares are still roughly $20 below Mr. Musk’s offer price of $54.20, though.

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