Twitter whistleblower payout breached merger agreement
On Friday, Elon Musk’s attorneys said that Twitter’s decision to pay $7.75 million to a whistleblower provides additional reason for the world’s wealthiest man to terminate his $44 billion deal to acquire the firm.
In a letter to Twitter, the attorneys said that Twitter’s failure to get Musk’s approval prior to making the payment to Peiter Zatko breached the April 25 merger agreement, which regulated when such payments may be made.
The letter said, “This severance payment… cannot be cured,” hence Musk is not obliged to complete the transaction.
The letter has been sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Twitter did not reply to a request for comment immediately.
The letter was sent after Musk filed a sealed amended countersuit that included Zatko’s claims that the social media platform didn’t have enough security.