Elon Musk sends formal deal termination letter to Twitter
Scott Olson
On August 29, Elon Musk has sent a letter to Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) highlighting additional reasons to terminate $44B deal.
Shares of TWTR are down 2% premarket, while Tesla (TSLA) is up 2%.
Musk filed a 13D with the SEC noting an official termination letter had been sent on Aug. 29.
The letter highlighted the Twitter whistleblower as another reason to call off the merger.
"On August 23, 2022, the Washington Post published a whistleblower report to Congress, the SEC, FTC, and DOJ filed by Peiter 'Mudge' Zatko, Twitter’s former chief security officer, on July 6, 2022 (the 'Zatko Complaint')," the letter said. "The Zatko Complaint alleges far-reaching misconduct at Twitter - all of which was disclosed to Twitter’s directors and senior executives, including Parag Agrawal - that is likely to have severe consequences for Twitter’s business."
Musk's attorneys have filed a subpoena of Zatko.
"These allegations, if true, demonstrate that Twitter has breached the following provisions of the Merger Agreement, thereby giving the Musk Parties the right to terminate the Merger Agreement pursuant to its terms as more fully described below."
"Because the facts described in the August 29 Termination Letter were known to Twitter and withheld from the Reporting Person, and because Twitter has taken the position that the Merger Agreement remains in effect, the Reporting Person sent the August 29 Termination Letter on the basis of the facts described therein," the filing said. "For the avoidance of doubt, these bases are in addition to, and not in lieu of, the bases for termination described in the July 8 Termination Letter."
"Although the Reporting Person believes the August 29 Termination Letter is not legally necessary to terminate the Merger Agreement because he has already validly terminated it pursuant to the July 8 Termination Letter, the Reporting Person delivered the August 29 Termination Letter in the event that the July 8 Termination Letter is determined to be invalid for any reason."
Musk is still looking to delay the start of the trial over the deal.