Elon Musk cites Twitter whistleblower in bid to scrap acquisition

Elon Musk thinks he's found a brand new reason to scrap his Twitter deal.

In a new letter, the Tesla CEO argues recent revelations from a Twitter whistleblower support his efforts to cancel his acquisition of the company. This was his second letter to terminate the deal; the first came in July.

"Allegations regarding certain facts, known to Twitter prior to and as of July 8, 2022, but undisclosed to the Musk Parties prior to and at that time, have since come to light that provide additional and distinct bases to terminate the Merger Agreement," Musk's legal representative wrote.

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Peiter Zatko, former Twitter head of security, recently came forward to accuse the company of "extreme, egregious deficiencies."

Musk offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion in April with plans to take the company private, but he has since been trying to back away from the deal. He previously cited concerns over the amount of bots and spam accounts on the platform.

But Musk's legal team now says the whistleblower "alleges far-reaching misconduct at Twitter — all of which was disclosed to Twitter's directors and senior executives, including [CEO] Parag Agrawal — that is likely to have severe consequences for Twitter's business." If the allegations are true, Musk's attorneys allege, Twitter has breached its merger agreement, giving Musk the right to determinate the deal.

Twitter sued Musk in July in an effort to force him to complete the acquisition. "Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away," the company said. A trial is set for October.