Twitter sues Elon Musk over $44 billion contract breach

Twitter sued Elon Musk on Tuesday for violating the $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform and asked a Delaware court to order the world's richest person to complete the merger at the agreed $54.20 per Twitter share, according to a court filing. "Twitter brings this action to enjoin Musk from further breaches, to compel Musk to fulfill his legal obligations, and to compel consummation of the merger upon satisfaction of the few outstanding conditions," Twitter stated in the lawsuit. "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," said the lawsuit. The lawsuit sets in motion what promises to be one of the biggest legal showdowns in Wall Street history, involving one of the business world's most colorful entrepreneurs in a case that will turn on staid contract language.

Earlier, Musk said he was terminating the merger because of the lack of information about spam accounts and inaccurate representations that he said amounted to a "material adverse event." He also said executive departures amounted to a failure to conduct business in the ordinary course, as Twitter was obligated to do. Twitter said it negotiated to remove from the merger agreement language that would have made such firings a violation of ordinary course requirement.