Twitter trial accusing Musk of driving down stock set for closing arguments

"Closing arguments are set to begin in a trial in the United States pitting Elon Musk against shareholders of Twitter, now known as X, who say the world's richest man engaged in a pattern of deceptive behaviour that misled investors as he attempted to back out of his $44bn deal to buy the social media platform in 2022."

"Much of the trial focused on Musk's claims about the number of bots on Twitter. Musk testified, as he has long contended, that Twitter had a much higher number of fake and spam accounts than the 5 percent it disclosed in regulatory filings. He used what he called Twitter's misrepresentation of the number of fake accounts on its service as a reason to retreat from the purchase."

"The company had paid $809.5m in 2021 to settle claims that it was overstating its growth rate and monthly user figures. Twitter also disclosed its bot estimates to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for years while also cautioning that its estimate might be too low. But Musk claimed the number was much higher, at least 20 percent according to some analysts."

A civil trial in San Francisco involves shareholders suing Elon Musk over his conduct during the 2022 Twitter acquisition. Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion but attempted to back out, citing concerns about fake bot accounts. Twitter disclosed approximately 5 percent bots in regulatory filings, while Musk claimed the number was at least 20 percent. Twitter had previously settled similar claims in 2021 for $809.5 million regarding overstated user figures. After Twitter sued to enforce the deal, Musk reversed course and completed the purchase at the original price. Shareholders allege Musk engaged in deceptive practices to mislead investors during negotiations.

Read at www.aljazeera.com