Elon Musk abandoned Twitter deal because of World War 3 fears, claim company lawyers

midian182

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WTF?! As lawyers representing Elon Musk and Twitter argue over whether a whistleblower's claims can be added to the former's lawsuit, the company says one of the reasons Musk pulled out of the acquisition was concerns about the start of World War 3.

Last week saw Twitter's former head of security, Peiter Zatko, who goes by the nickname "Mudge," allege that his former employer lied about its security protocols and fake accounts. Unsurprisingly, Musk's legal team moved quickly to subpoena Zatko to testify in the upcoming trial in which the billionaire will try to escape the deal without paying a $1 billion termination fee.

Musk's lawyer is now asking the judge for the trial to be delayed for several weeks so Zatko's claims can be examined. "Doesn't justice demand a few weeks to look into this?" said Alex Spiro at a Delaware hearing.

In what marks the company's first public response to Zatko's allegations, Twitter called them a "false narrative," adding that the former worker has a "huge ax to grind" against the firm and that he was not in charge of spam during his time at Twitter.

Zatko's lawyers say he never chose now to go public with his accusations to benefit Musk, though Twitter disagrees. Company lawyers say that, much like the spam account argument, Musk is jumping on the allegations as a way to escape a deal he agreed to without first doing due diligence.

Twitter lawyers also pointed to a text message Musk sent to his banker at Morgan Stanley on May 3 that read: "Let's slow down just a few days […] it won't make sense to buy Twitter if we're headed into World War 3."

"This is why Mr. Musk didn't want to buy Twitter, this stuff about the bots, mDAU [monetizable daily active users] and Zatko is all pretext," said William Savitt, representing Twitter. He said that if the judge does allow Zatko's testimony to be added, the five-day trial should still go ahead on the scheduled October 17 date.

Zatko claimed that Twitter violated its 2011 settlement with the FTC by not maintaining a comprehensive security plan. He also said senior executives engaged in deceitful and/or misleading communications affecting board members, users, and shareholders, and that CEO Parag Agrawal asked him to provide false and misleading documents.

Twitter wants to force Musk into purchasing the company at the previously agreed price of $54.20 per share. Its share price is currently $38.65.

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"This is why Mr. Musk didn't want to buy Twitter, this stuff about the bots, mDAU [monetizable daily active users] and Zatko is all pretext," said William Savitt, representing Twitter.

Taking a blatantly flippant comment about the Ukraine situation literally is more pitiful than the crap they keep fabricating to stop Trump from running.
 
Well, if ANYTHING came out of this, it did start to expose the number of BOTS on twitter.
Quite frankly, the world would be better off without twitter. Maybe journalist would start WORKING
instead of saying "breaking news: so and so said something on twitter that is going viral".
 
I don't see how would WW3 influence the deal. If the nuclear rockets start flying, it really doesn't matter whether you're losing or winning on the stock market. When they hit the ground everyone has lost everything.
 
Musk is an immature troll - either contracts don't matter in this country or he starts paying. His posturing and childish antics don't matter.
 
I'm sorry the takeover did not go through. It would have been a great thing
on the other hand, once he forced twatters hand to show him the server data on bot counts, he then knew it would have been a waste of money (a bad investment). he isn’t stupid like so many other companies that bought online plat forms that were garbage. Remember aol? Look how many DUDS they purchased, or yahoo, car companies have done the same by buying crap companies. twatter is crap, and ran by jerks of the word. I am glad he is smart, and didn't get hosed.
 
"This is why Mr. Musk didn't want to buy Twitter, this stuff about the bots, mDAU [monetizable daily active users] and Zatko is all pretext," said William Savitt, representing Twitter.

Taking a blatantly flippant comment about the Ukraine situation literally is more pitiful than the crap they keep fabricating to stop Trump from running.
shhh. there are great forces at work.
 
on the other hand, once he forced twatters hand to show him the server data on bot counts, he then knew it would have been a waste of money (a bad investment). he isn’t stupid like so many other companies that bought online plat forms that were garbage. Remember aol? Look how many DUDS they purchased, or yahoo, car companies have done the same by buying crap companies. twatter is crap, and ran by jerks of the word. I am glad he is smart, and didn't get hosed.
This again? His opportunity to get that data was before both parties signed the deal. He is stupid. He was the one who proposed the deal to Twitter. He was the one in a rush to make the deal happen. He was the one who posted, on Twitter, about how Twitter is overrun with bots and how he's going to clean it up before his proposal to buy Twitter.
 
Twitter is grasping a straws. Yet more evidence of their complete incompetence and worthlessness. Mr. Musk made the right choice backing out of that deal.
 
This again? His opportunity to get that data was before both parties signed the deal.
Um, no. Due diligence -- especially diligence involving proprietary data -- comes in the period between signing and closing a deal.

He was the one who posted, on Twitter, about how Twitter is overrun with bots and how he's going to clean it up
He's still entitled to be able to rely on the honesty of Twitter's SEC filings and public pronouncements. If you sign a contract for a 700hp Ferrari, you're not obligated to purchase if you find out the dealer has substituted an old lawn mower engine into it instead.
 
The board played hard to get for too long and Musk lost interest.
Their mistake, their loss
 
Let me see...Musk makes a multi-billion dollar bid for Twitter, and doesn't get his legal team and his army of investigators to probe the company he wants to buy? Sounds kosher.....
 
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