Twitter shareholders approve $44bn Musk deal

US – In April, Twitter agreed to sell the company to the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. However, the deal fell through after Musk claimed he was misled by Twitter about the amount of spam and bot accounts on the platform.

He said he no longer wants to buy the company in May, but Twitter says Musk can’t back out of the deal.

Twitter shareholders have voted to approve a deal with Elon Musk to buy the company for $44 billion (£38 billion).

The decision was made during a short conference call with investors from the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. This means that Twitter will now try to force Elon Musk to buy the company in court.

The meeting was followed by explosive testimony from former Twitter security chief Peter Zatko before the US Senate.

The social media platform reports that less than 5% of its monetized daily active users (those who can watch ads) are bots. Mr Musk claims it could be many times higher.

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Twitter is currently valued at $32 billion, well below Mr. Musk’s $44 billion offer. Today’s vote could have ended Twitter’s prosecution, but shareholders have now given the company the green light to pursue Musk in court.

The two are due to meet in front of a Delaware court in October. During the hearing, the judge will decide whether Musk should buy the company.

Shortly before the shareholders’ decision, Twitter whistleblower Peter Zatko was in Washington, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee about alleged security flaws.

He told US lawmakers that the firm is “misleading the public” about how secure the platform is.

The company’s former head of security said Twitter was “ten years behind” on security standards. Twitter reports that Mr. Zatko has been fired from his job and that the claims are incorrect. Mr. Zatko previously backed Elon Musk’s claim that the platform has more spam and fake accounts than it acknowledged, although he didn’t elaborate on this on Tuesday.

Last week, a judge said Musk’s lawyers would be allowed to use the Twitter whistleblower’s testimony in court. He mostly focused on national security issues and was not officially linked to Musk’s attempt to get out of the Twitter deal.