Elon Musk is pulling out of his $44 billion acquisition deal with Twitter, with the latter planning to sue to keep the agreement intact.
The Tesla CEO’s bid to take over the social network saw many twists and turns. In the last couple of weeks, Elon Musk accused Twitter of not providing him an accurate number of spam bots on the platform. He also raised questions about Twitter's debt.
Social media has been abuzz with reactions to the Musk-Twitter saga. Industrialist Anand Mahindra poked fun at the episode by coining a term -- "Twitter tease"
"If Elon was traveling on an Indian train, the conductor would label him a “TT” Ticketless Traveler," the Mahindra Group Chairperson said. "But TT could now also become a term for any headline grabbing bid that implodes: A Twitter Tease."
Read: Elon Musk-Twitter saga: Here's a quick timeline
A Twitter used joked that Anand Mahindra should buy the social network in place of Musk. They said that since Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal is "our own" -- a reference to him being Indian -- he would offer Mahindra the company at a fair price.
"Calling off this acquisition was expected though," another user wrote. "My heart goes out to Twitter. "
Musk has claimed Twitter breached its agreement with him by not providing him enough information to substantiate that only five percent of the accounts on its platform are fake.
The billionaire will have to now prove that Twitter violated the agreement. In case he cannot, he can be sued for a breakup fee of $1 billion.
Twitter Chairperson Brett Taylor has said the company is committed to closed the acquisition deal on the price and terms agreed Musk.
"(The company) plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement," he tweeted on July 9. "We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery."
(With inputs from Reuters)
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