Billionaire Mr. Elon Musk has countersued the American microblogging and social networking platform, Twitter, following his bid to walk away from the $44 billion purchase.
While the 164-page document was not disclosed publicly, Mr. Musk’s lawsuit was filed hours after Chancellor Ms. Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery, ordered a five-day trial to determine if Musk can walk away from the deal.
Mr. Musk was sued by a Twitter shareholder who asked the court to order the billionaire to close the deal, find that he breached his fiduciary duty to Twitter shareholders and award damages for losses he caused.
According to the lawsuit, which seeks class status, Mr. Musk owes a fiduciary duty to Twitter’s shareholders because of his 9.6 percent stake in the company and because the takeover agreement gives him a veto of many of the company’s decisions. The lawsuit was filed by Mr. Luigi Crispo, who owns 5,500 Twitter shares, in the Court of Chancery.
Earlier this month, Mr. Musk announced abandoning the takeover and blamed Twitter for breaching the agreement by misrepresenting the number of fake accounts on its platform. Twitter sued days later, calling the fake account claims a distraction and saying Musk was bound by the merger contract to close the deal at $54.20 per share.
Last week, the billionaire claimed Twitter of dragging its feet based on his discovery requests, and Twitter accused him of searching for large quantities of information which might be beside the point of the principle factor within the case, whether or not Mr. Musk had violated the deal contract.
Related: Twitter hires top law firm to sue Elon Musk for dropping $44bn takeover deal
