Twitter shareholders have given approval for Elon Musk’s $44 billion buyout of the social media giant.
It couldn’t have come at a more awkward time.
The vote comes as Musk is fighting Twitter in court to get out of the deal. It also comes on the heels of testimony from Twitter’s former head of security before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Peiter Zatko, a former Twitter security executive, was fired by the San Francisco-based company in January. Zatko confirmed when asked by Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley that the FBI notified Twitter that one of their employees was suspected of being a Chinese intelligence asset. The computer security expert lost his job one week later after sharing his concerns about the news with members of the leadership team, including CEO Parag Agrawal.
The anecdote was one of several examples provided by Zatko in a 200-page disclosure to Congress, accusing Twitter of lax cybersecurity policies that have led to an explosion of fake accounts and made the politically influential platform vulnerable to disinformation from foreign intelligence services.
Zatko stressed that the company prioritized “profits over security.”
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports:
Twitter has pushed back against his charges, and said he was making misleading statements. He has been called before the committee to provide more information on his assertions.
Democrats and Republicans have raised concerns about social-media companies in recent years over how they use and protect customer data. “Twitter is an immensely powerful platform that cannot afford gaping security vulnerabilities,” Sen. Dick Durbin, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a Democrat from Illinois, said in opening remarks at the hearing.
Zatko’s testimony will fuel the legal drama playing out between Musk and Twitter. Musk is attempting to drop his bid to buy the company. In response, Twitter sued Musk in July for trying to back out of their deal. Musk countersued, saying the microblogging platform deliberately misled him about its user metrics and the true number of fake or “bot” accounts.
Musk recently scored a major victory in his lawsuit in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, where the judge overseeing the case ruled that the billionaire can amend his suit to include Zatko’s accusations. However, he lost an appeal to delay the trial.
WSJ emphasizes what’s at stake:
If the judge were to force Mr. Musk to consummate the transaction, he could be on the hook for more than $33 billion in equity financing, according to a regulatory filing. The Tesla Inc. boss in August sold roughly $7 billion worth of the electric-vehicle maker’s stock, according to regulatory disclosures, and suggested he did so in case he is forced to buy Twitter.
This story is developing. Stay with American Liberty News for the latest updates.
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Buy Co.for 22B
The question of “how many bots” there are remains unanswered.
Of course they want to sell before the price/value drops by 50-75% and their stock isn’t worth wiping their arses with………if he offered 30, they’d agree to take it.
I don’t get it, folks. Mr. Musk established conditions for the sale. Twitter could not meet his conditions. So the sale is legally OFF. Or what? Why must a judge get involved? Who wants to get rid of Twitter so badly? And WHY??