Elon Musk has formally written to Twitter asking to end their $44 billion merger agreement.

Lawyers working for the SpaceX billionaire filed a Schedule 13D document with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington DC.

The document basically confirms that the world’s richest man (dubbed the Reporting Person in the document) has notified Twitter he wants to pull out of the deal.

‘On August 29, 2022, the Reporting Person’s advisors sent a letter (the ‘August 29 Termination Letter’) to Twitter (on the Reporting Person’s behalf) formally notifying Twitter that the Reporting Person is terminating their merger agreement (the ‘Merger Agreement’),’ the document read.

Musk has long claimed that Twitter has misled him over the number of spam bots on the platform.

He’s now facing a court battle to determine whether or not he will be forced to buy the social network, as per his original offer.

According to a court filing made yesterday, Musk’s team will subpoena information from Twitter whistleblower Peiter Zatko about the way Twitter measures spam accounts.

This includes documents and communications on the company’s spam and alleged security vulnerabilities as well as the company’s compliance with a 2011 Federal Trade Commission agreement and ‘Twitter’s engagement in any unlawful activity’.

It could be a big boost to Musk’s claim he was misled and allow him to back out of the deal.

A Twitter attorney said at a court hearing last week that Musk’s focus on spam as a way to end his agreement to buy the company was ‘legally irrelevant’ because Twitter always said its spam counts were only estimates, not binding representations.

The two sides have sued each other and are heading to a five-day trial on October 17.

While Musk wants out of the deal, Twitter is hoping that the court will order him to buy the company for the agreed $54.20 per share.

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