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Do Women Invest More Carefully Than Men?
Do Women Invest More Carefully Than Men?

Elon Musk Pulls Out of $44 Billion Twitter Acquisition

Musk claims in SEC filing that Twitter failed to honor agreement to provide information on fake and spam accounts.

Elon Musk filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday seeking to terminate his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter  (TWTR) - Get Free Report.

Musk said in the filing that Twitter had failed to provide information on the number of fake or spam accounts on the site despite repeated requests. 

"Mr. Musk is terminating the Merger Agreement because Twitter is in material breach of multiple provisions of that Agreement," according to the filing. In addition Twitter "appears to have made false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when entering into the Merger Agreement, and is likely to suffer a Company Material Adverse Effect." 

Shares of Twitter fell sharply in after-hours trading Friday. The stock fell 5.10% during regular trade to close at $36.81 and was down another 5% after-hours.

The filing followed a report from the Washington Post earlier in the day that the bid was in "serious jeopardy".

That report, which appeared to reply heavily on sources inside the Tesla CEO's camp, said Musk remains convinced that Twitter is not being forthright with respect to its calculations of spam or fake accounts on the micro-blogging website. 

Musk also found support from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has echoed Musk's call for more data to support its fake account claims and launched special probe into the company last month.

Musk, who waived his right to due diligence on the deal when it was unveiled earlier this spring, has consistently said that Twitter is refusing to co-operate by not sharing its calculations of fake accounts, while Twitter said it stood by its earlier filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which suggest less than 5% of total accounts are spam or fake.

The Wall Street Journal reported in June that as many as 70% of Musk's nearly 100 million followers are spam, fake or inactive, citing data from audience-research software group SparkToro LLC.

While it appears that Musk will not in fact take over Twitter, there are likely to be extended legal battles over a $1 billion break-up fee tied with the proposed takeover.

Twitter's Chairman, Bret Taylor, said the company intends to go forward with the transaction.

However, the immediate fallout for the company is a disaster, according to tech analyst Dan Ives.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla  (TSLA) - Get Free Report, head of SpaceX and many other ventures, launched his bid for Twitter last spring after accumulating a nearly 10% stake in the company.