Elon Musk plans to countersue Twitter in effort to blow up $44B buyout: report

Space X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is reportedly planning to file a counter-lawsuit against Twitter to avoid being forced to buy the social media company for $44 billion. The billionaire sent a letter to terminate the deal earlier this month.

Last week, Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk to force the billionaire to finalize the deal he agreed to back in April. Musk originally offered to pay $54.20 a share for Twitter. The social media platform agreed to his terms after originally opposing the deal.

According to The New York Post, Musk’s legal team is asking a Delaware Court of Chancery judge to grant them more time to gather information about the number of spam bots on the platform, which was the primary reason given by Musk when he backed out of the deal. The deal has been on hold since May, after Musk demanded that the social media giant prove that bots are less than five percent of users.

Musk’s lawyers wrote in a filing responding to Twitter’s lawsuit, "The core dispute over false and spam accounts is fundamental to Twitter’s value. It is also extremely fact and expert intensive, requiring substantial time for discovery."

The filing by Musk’s team included the claim that Twitter violated the buyout agreement by firing two managers without first informing the Tesla CEO. Additionally, the filing disputed Twitter's request for an expedited trial, claiming that it would take months to depose witnesses regarding the bot accounts and to obtain other needed information from the company.

Musk only has 20 days from when Twitter filed the lawsuit against him to file his own counterclaims, with the first hearing already scheduled for Tuesday.

Delaware Court of Chancery chancellor Kathaleen McCormick will be the one weighing in on Twitter’s request for a four-day trial starting in September, while Musk is arguing for a later court date.