The legal counsel for Twitter is advising staff to keep quiet about Elon Musk’s decision to back out of his $44 billion takeover of the dominant social media platform.
The social media juggernaut received harsh criticism from the billionaire for failing to “comply with its contractual responsibilities” during the purchase process.
However, Twitter promptly retaliated by announcing that the company intend’The Twitter Board is dedicated to complete the acquisition on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement,’ the company’s chairman Bret Taylor tweeted. We are sure that the Delaware Court of Chancery will rule in our favor.d to use the courts to push the blockbuster takeover through.
The company’s chairman Bret Taylor tweeted: ‘The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.’
Amir Shevat, whose Twitter bio says he works on the company’s developer products, made a joke about Musk promising ‘exceptional’ employees could work from hom
Twitter employee Jared Manfredi, whose profile claims he works on iOS devices, offered his opinion on Musk pulling the plug.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal retweeted that remark. The corporation will likely just make that one public comment at this time.
According to New York Times writer Mike Isaac, a leaked internal email from the company’s general counsel Sean Edgett stated: “Given this is an active legal case, you should abstain from Tweeting, Slacking, or publishing any remark concerning the merger deal.”
Mike Isaac.
We will offer information as we are able, but kindly be aware that we will be quite constrained in what we can communicate in the interim. I am aware that the situation is unsure, and we value your patience and dedication to the vital job we are doing.
An unidentified Twitter employee told NBC News that Musk had “f**king wrecked the company” in response to the failed transaction.
The worker remarked, “I suppose it seems like we won. However, it has the sense of the film’s climax, when Michael Bay’s explosion is behind the characters and they are covered in blood. Although we could see this coming, he has already completely wrecked the firm.
Soon after learning of Musk’s firing, Amir Shevat, whose Twitter account states that he works on the company’s developer products, wrote on the platform. ‘What a cliffhanger of a season one finale…’
Later, Shevat tweeted, “I still plan to be remote and extraordinary,” presumably alluding to Musk’s earlier statement that only “exceptional” staff would be permitted to work remotely.
If only this wasn’t the beginning of a protracted legal struggle that will simply result in decreasing the purchase price and prolonging the circus for yet another infinite period of time, commented Jared Manfredi, who according to his profile works on iOS products at Twitter.
Twitter informed staff members last month that it was on track to surpass its highest-ever goal of 13 million users who would view advertisements during the second quarter that had just finished. Twitter hasn’t yet released its second-quarter earnings.
Musk told Twitter staff later in the month on a video townhall that he wants to grow the company to at least 1 billion users from 229 million. He also told them users should be allowed to post ‘pretty outrageous things.’
Musk, a frequent Twitter user, has said that if he owned a social media platform, he could make it more enjoyable while still keeping it as an important public forum.
In a regulatory filing on Friday, his attorney claimed that Twitter had broken a clause in the agreement to “preserve substantially intact the material components of its current business organization” by letting go of two managers, cutting back on its talent acquisition team, putting a hiring freeze in place, and rescinding job offers. Three department heads’ resignations were also mentioned.
By the end of 2021, Twitter employed more than 7,500 people.
In an all-hands meeting with staff in April, Agrawal made an effort to calm tensions after staff members asked information on how managers would handle a Musk-inspired mass exodus.
If the Musk transaction gone through, Agrawal would have made $42 million.
Additionally, Musk asserts that due to the hiring freeze and senior employee firings during the previous two months, Twitter was unable to function regularly.
The day before Musk made his statement, Twitter revealed that almost 100 employees, or 30% of their acquisition team, had been let go. A Twitter representative claimed in a brief statement to Business Insider that the layoffs were necessary to “align Twitter with its news business needs.”
Musk’s lawyer at Skadden Arps, Mike Ringler, revealed the shocking information in a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission by claiming Twitter had violated many major terms of the contract.
“Mr. Musk is terminating the Merger Agreement because Twitter is materially in breach of numerous provisions of that Agreement, appears to have made false and misleading representations on which Mr. Musk relied when entering into the Merger Agreement, and is likely to experience a Company Material Adverse Effect,” wrote Ringler.
‘While Section 6.4 of the Merger Agreement requires Twitter to provide Mr. Musk and his advisors all data and information that Mr. Musk requests ‘for any reasonable business purpose related to the consummation of the transaction,’ Twitter has not complied with its contractual obligations.
‘For nearly two months, Mr. Musk has sought the data and information necessary to ‘make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform’.
‘This information is fundamental to Twitter’s business and financial performance and is necessary to consummate the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement because it is needed to ensure Twitter’s satisfaction of the conditions to closing, to facilitate Mr Musk’s financing and financial planning for the transaction, and to engage in transition planning for the business.
‘Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information. Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr Musk’s requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr Musk incomplete or unusable information.’