Twitter sues Elon Musk for pulling out of $44B deal to buy company

San Francisco: Twitter Inc sued Elon Musk on Tuesday to force the billionaire to complete his $44 billion acquisition of the company, setting the stage for a prolonged legal battle over the fate of the social media service.

To push Mr. Musk to abide by the acquisition agreement, Twitter asked a Delaware court to order the world's richest person to complete the merger at the agreed $54.20 per Twitter share.

"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.

On Friday, Musk said he was terminating the deal because Twitter violated the agreement by failing to respond to requests for information regarding fake or spam accounts on the platforms, which is fundamental to its business performance.

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit accused Musk of "a long list" of violations of the merger agreement that "have cast a pall over Twitter and its business."

Shares in the social media platform tumbled to $34.06 on Tuesday from above $50 when the deal was accepted by Twitter's board in late April.

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.