The official profile of Elon Musk on the Twitter social network.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission asked billionaire Elon Musk for more information on a tweet about his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which he has recently tried to reverse, a new regulatory filing showed on Thursday.
The disclosure sheds light on how Musk represented his commitment to the deal to the SEC, even as he probed Twitter for information on unwanted accounts on the platform. It also shows how the deal could bring Musk back into the crosshairs of the agency.
In a letter dated June 7, Musk’s lawyer and a Skadden partner, Mike Ringler, responded to questions sent by the SEC’s Office of Mergers and Acquisitions a few days ago.
The letter reiterates clarification the SEC sought from Musk, including whether an earlier filing should be amended based on his tweet that the deal with Twitter “cannot move forward” until the company provides more information on its spam accounts.
“The term ‘may not’ suggests that Mr. Musk and his affiliates are exercising the legal right under the terms of the merger agreement to suspend completion of the acquisition of Twitter or otherwise do not intend to complete the acquisition,” the SEC wrote, according to the filing. to the deposit. “However, we note that the Schedule 13D has not been amended to reflect the apparent material change that has occurred in the facts previously reported under Item 4 of the Schedule 13D.”
Ringler responded at the time that Musk did not believe his tweet “triggered any required changes to his previously filed 13D Program. Despite Mr. Musk’s desire to obtain information to evaluate potential spam accounts— it and false, there was no material change to Mr. Musk’s plans and proposals in connection with the proposed transaction at that time.”
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has since sought to exit the deal, alleging Twitter failed to uphold its end of the contract by failing to disclose information it should have and by making layoffs without his approval. But Twitter has said it has honored the terms of the deal and claimed Musk is simply trying to pull out now that market conditions have changed.
Twitter sued Musk in Delaware Court of Chancery on Tuesday to seek to hold it to the original agreement.
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