Free fall for the title of the social network Twitter. The action was jostled Monday on Wall Street as the boss of Tesla and SpaceX openly mocked the platform after the abandonment of its plan to buy the site for 44 billion dollars and that the group prepares for a legal battle.
After losing 5% on Monday July 11, the stock had already tumbled 5% on Friday July 8. In total, since April 25, the title has lost 29%, the date on which the administration of the group had accepted the takeover offer from the entrepreneur.
But after several months of twists and turns, the multi-billionaire let it be known in a letter to Twitter on Friday July 8 that he was terminating this agreement, considering that the company had not respected its commitments by not communicating the share of fake accounts. and spam. The social network claims that the number of inauthentic accounts is less than 5%, a figure disputed by Elon Musk who considers it much higher.
The two camps are now engaged in a legal standoff, which could cost Elon Musk a few billion dollars if he were to lose.
For his part, Mr. Musk shared his first reaction on Twitter on Monday since the announcement of his withdrawal by posting an image containing several photos where he appears hilarious. “They said I couldn’t buy Twitter. Then they refused to reveal the information about the fake accounts. Now they want to force me to take over Twitter in court. Now they are forced to reveal information about fake accounts,” reads alongside each snap.
For Dan Ives of Investment Banking Wedbush Securities, “This is a situation of ‘extreme danger’ for Twitter and its board of directors as the company takes on Musk in a Game of Thrones-style legal battle to salvage the deal or at least recover the Billion dollar severance pay. »