Elon Musk terminates deal to buy Twitter

Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla and the world's richest person, said yesterday that he was terminating his 44 billion dollar deal to buy Twitter because the social media company had breached multiple provisions of the merger agreement.

Twitter's chairman, Bret Taylor, said on the micro-blogging platform that the board planned to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement.

Meanwhile, Musk's lawyers said Twitter had failed or refused to respond to multiple requests for information on fake or



spam accounts on the platform, which is fundamental to the company's business performance.

Musk also said he was walking away because Twitter fired high-ranking executives and one-third of the talent acquisition team, breaching Twitter's obligation to preserve substantially intact the material components of its current business organization.

Musk's decision is likely to result in a protracted legal tussle between the billionaire and the 16-year-old San Francisco-based company.