Alex Bruno
On Tuesday, Twitter threw another tactical bomb at Elon Musk in the spat over the businessman’s decision to pull out of the $44 billion acquisition of the social media site. Musk’s first April deal to purchase Twitter for $44 billion at $54.20 per share was approved by shareholders. The stock of the corporation is now trading for around 25% less than its $41 per share starting price.
The decision to hold the Tesla CEO to the agreement comes days after Musk’s legal team filed a third letter to Twitter asking the company to void the arrangement due to a rumored $7.75 million severance payout made by Twitter to former security head Peiter Zatko, who then informed the government of the platform’s purported security and privacy vulnerabilities.
When Twitter promised to not provide severance payments to workers outside “the usual course of business consistent with prior practice,” Musk’s attorneys argued that Zatko’s remuneration was in violation of that agreement. Musk’s effort to pull out of the agreement was labeled “invalid and unjust” by Twitter in response.
The vote took place while Zatko appeared before a US Senate committee on Tuesday, explaining how the business is exposed to a significant breach due to its claimed cybersecurity flaws.
“This is a significant matter for all of us,” Zatko told legislators, “when a prominent media platform can be penetrated by kids, criminals, and spies, and the firm regularly causes security vulnerabilities on its own.”
In July, Musk filed his first letter to Twitter seeking to end the agreement, stating that Twitter had broken the terms by exaggerating the quantity of spam and phony accounts available on its network. Twitter followed suit and filed a lawsuit against Musk to finish the takeover, accusing the billionaire of deploying bots as a ruse to back out of the deal. On October 17, when their trial is due to begin, Twitter and Musk will face off in court.
Source: Reuters, AA
