Musk made the claims in a countersuit filed under seal last
Friday, which was made public on Thursday.
"According to Musk, he — the billionaire founder of
multiple companies, advised by Wall Street bankers and lawyers — was hoodwinked
by Twitter into signing a $44 billion merger agreement. That story is as
implausible and contrary to fact as it sounds," the filing released by
Twitter on Thursday said.
Twitter's filing is the latest salvo in what is building up
to be an increasingly acrimonious legal showdown between the world's richest
person and the social media giant.
The two sides head to trial on October 17 after Musk sought
to abandon his deal to acquire Twitter over what he says is a misrepresentation
of fake accounts on the site.
The San Francisco-based company is trying to force Musk to
follow through on the deal and accuses him of sabotaging it because it no longer
served his interests.
A representative for Musk did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
In the counterclaims made public Thursday, Musk accuses
Twitter of stepping up efforts to conceal the true number of its users, as the
market plummeted.
"As a long bull market was coming to a close, and the
tide was going out, Twitter knew that providing the Musk Parties the
information they were requesting would reveal that Twitter had been swimming
naked," the counterclaims say.
Twitter counters that Musk has not "pleaded a shred of
evidence" for these "fact-free" allegations.
Fact-Free allegations
Musk also claims that "Twitter's misrepresentations run
far deeper than simply providing incorrect numbers" about its spam or
false accounts.
While "Twitter touts having 238 million 'monetizable
daily active users,' those users who actually see ads" is roughly 65
million lower, Musk says in the counterclaims.
Twitter maintains that its SEC disclosures about monetizable
daily active users were accurate.
Musk, the chief executive of electric car company Tesla,
offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share in April, saying he believed in its
potential as a global platform for free speech.
But he soured on Twitter as its stock price lagged his
takeover bid, and began expressing skepticism that bot and spam accounts
represented less than 5 percent of users.
Musk sought to back out on July 8 without paying a $1
billion breakup fee, citing Twitter's failure to provide details on bot and
spam accounts. Twitter sued him four days later.
Earlier this week, Twitter issued dozens of subpoenas to
banks, investors and law firms that backed Musk's takeover bid, while Musk
issued subpoenas to Twitter's advisers at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan over
their work.
Legal experts have said Twitter's requests suggested the
company wanted to know why Musk turned against it, or whether he reneged on his
obligation to obtain sufficient financing. © Reuters
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