Legal Battle: Elon Musk Files Countersuit Against Twitter Over $44 Billion Deal

San Francisco: Elon Musk has filed a countersuit against Twitter Inc in his legal fight against the social media company as he seeks to walk away from the $44 billion purchase deal.

The 164-page document was not publicly available as the lawsuit was filed confidentially. Under court rules, a redacted version could soon be made public.

Just hours before Musk filed the lawsuit, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware Court of Chancery ordered a five-day trial — beginning on October 17 — to determine if Musk can walk away from the deal.

Musk was also sued by a Twitter shareholder, who asked the court to order the world’s richest person to close the deal, find that he breached his fiduciary duty to Twitter shareholders and award damages for losses he caused.

Musk, chief executive of Tesla Inc, said three weeks ago that he was abandoning the takeover, blaming Twitter Inc for breaching the agreement by misrepresenting the number of fake accounts on its platform.

Twitter sued Musk within a few days, calling the fake account claims a distraction and stating that he was bound by the merger contract to close the deal at $54.20 per share.

Twitter’s share price was $41.61 at the end of Friday, the highest close since Musk announced he wouldn’t complete the deal.