Elon Musk decides to terminate Twitter deal

SAN FRANCISCO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Friday he was terminating his US$44 billion deal to buy Twitter, blaming the company for withholding information on its number of spam and fake accounts, Xinhua reported.

Musk's lawyer claimed that Twitter failed to comply with its obligations in the merger agreement and was "in material breach of multiple provisions" of the agreement signed in April.

Twitter's Board Chair Bret Taylor said the company is committed to closing the deal on the price and terms agreed upon with Musk, and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement.

"We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery," tweeted Taylor, who is also co-CEO of Salesforce.

In April, Elon Musk announced the US$44 billion acquisition of Twitter. Later in May, he said the deal was temporarily on hold as he asked for details on the number of the social platform's spam and fake accounts.

-- BERNAMA