Elon Musk is reportedly being sued by Twitter after the billionaire attempted to terminate his proposed £37 billion purchase of the social media platform.
The Tesla Tycon argued that Twitter failed to provide him with accurate information on the number of bots and spam accounts on the site.
Twitter responded with a lawsuit sought via a Delaware court to order Musk to complete his purchase of the platform at the agreed price of $54.20 per share.
The lawsuit listed a range of grievances against the SpaceX founder, including decimating the stock price and attempting to saddle shareholders with the burden, after the decline proved detrimental to him based on his initial agreement.
The filing accuses Musk of attempting to “trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away.”
“The value of Mr Musk’s stake in Tesla, the anchor of his personal wealth, has declined by more than $100bn from its November 2021 peak. So [Mr] Musk wants out,” the lawsuit reported.
“Rather than bear the cost of the market downturn, as the merger agreement requires, [Mr] Musk wants to shift it to Twitter’s stockholders.”
Musk’s complaints against Twitter’s level of spam accounts led to the share price falling more than 8% over the last month, dropping from a high of $50 per share in May.
Musk currently faces a $1 billion penalty fee if he attempts to walk away from the agreement to purchase Twitter.
Twitter chairman Bret Taylor tweeted that he aimed to “hold Elon Musk accountable to his contractual obligations.”
The social media giant said it was “committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr Musk.”
Twitter shares are currently valued at $34, marking a significant $20 fall against the price for which Musk agreed to purchase the company.
However, Twitter appears set to fight Musk on his attempt to leave the transaction, and have announced it will work to hold him accountable to the terms of his purchase contract.