An investor with micro-blogging giant, Twitter, William Heresniak, has sued the owner of electric car manufacturer, Elon Musk, and the social media platform over the handling of the billionaire’s $44bn take over bid for the company.
In the class action lawsuit filed this week at the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Heresniak, who said he was acting “on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated,” alleges that Musk has violated the Californian corporate laws in a number of ways.
The lawsuit accuses the SpaceX boss of “wrongful conduct,” citing Musk’s “false statements and market manipulation which created ‘chaos’ at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco”.
It also claimed that Musk has benefitted financially by delaying the disclosure of his significant stake in Twitter, and his plan to become a board member of the company.
One of the lawyers representing the Twitter investors, Frank Bottini, who spoke on the case on Friday, said the lawsuit was filed as Musk “continues to disparage the company he wants to buy for $44bn in an effort to renegotiate the purchase price.”
This is the second lawsuit against Musk since he announced his intention to takeover the social media company in March.
Earlier this month, a Florida-based pension fund had also challenged his move to buy Twitter as it claimed a deal could not be struck in months as planned.
In the suit, the pension fund said Musk was an “interested shareholder” in Twitter as he had made agreements with major shareholders, including its co-founder Jack Dorsey, before he offered to buy the business.
Analysts have also speculated that the Tesla CEO may be looking for ways to lower his takeover offer or walk away from the deal as he keeps coming up with various excuses including a recent one which he expressed his concerns about the number of fake accounts, or bots, on Twitter which he said is delaying his total takeover.