Twitter Sues Tesla Chief Over $44 Billion Takeover Deal, Musk Tweets ‘Oh The Irony Lol’

In its lawsuit, Twitter accused Musk of "a long list" of violations of the merger agreement that "have cast a pall over Twitter and its business"

Twitter initiated legal action against Tesla chief Elon Musk on Tuesday for abandoning the $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform at a Delaware court demanding the world's richest entrepreneur to complete the deal at the agreed $54.20 per Twitter share. In its lawsuit, the company targeted Musk for hampering the company’s operations. "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, according to news agency Reuters.

As soon as the lawsuit was filed, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to the micro-blogging site and tweeted, "Oh the irony lol." Even as the tweet did not directly mention about the lawsuit, it was apparent he was referring to it. The lawsuit was filed in Delaware's Court of Chancery on Tuesday, accusing Musk of hypocrisy, according to The Verge.

Last week, Musk walked away from the deal citing Twitter violation of the agreement and failure to respond to requests for information regarding fake or spam accounts on the platform, which is considered fundamental to its business performance.

On the other hand, the lawsuit accused Musk of "a long list" of violations of the takeover agreement that "have cast a pall over Twitter and its business." The company shares drastically fell to $34.06 on Tuesday from above $50 when the deal was accepted by Twitter's board in late April.

Musk said he was terminating the deal due to lack of information about spam accounts and inaccurate representations that he said amounted to a "material adverse event." The entrepreneur also noted that executive departures amounted to a failure to conduct business in the ordinary course, as Twitter was obligated to do.

On its part, Twitter noted its negotiation to remove from the merger agreement language that would have made such firings a violation of ordinary course requirement.

In April, Musk reached a deal to acquire Twitter in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion at $54.20 per share. However, the deal was put on hold in May to review Twitter's claim that less than 5 per cent of accounts on the platform are bots or spam.