SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk on Friday (Sep 9) added a severance payment made by Twitter to a whistleblower to the list of reasons he feels entitled to walk away from his US$44 billion deal to buy the social media platform.

A termination letter sent to Twitter accused the firm of not informing him about a multi-million dollar severance payment it made in June to departing security chief Peiter Zatko, who went on to file a whistleblower complaint criticising Twitter's security practices, according to a copy of the letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Musk's lawyers argued that failing to seek his consent before paying Zatko provides another legal basis to break the merger deal with Twitter he inked in April.

Twitter disagreed.

"My friend seems to be arguing that Twitter should have gratuitously told Musk that there existed a disgruntled former employee who made various allegations that had been inquired upon and found to be without merit," Twitter attorney William Savitt said earlier this week.

"That doesn't make any sense."
Source: CNA
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