Employees have reportedly been instructed not to comment publicly on the deal after Elon Musk informed Twitter that he wanted to back out of a deal to buy the company for a total of $44 billion. An internal memo from Twitter’s general counsel, obtained by foreign media, said employees should “refrain from posting or sharing any comments about the merger agreement on Twitter or Slack.
The notice cites the fact that the deal has now become an ongoing legal issue. Musk’s team claims that Twitter has “failed or refused to provide” information about the number of bot accounts on its platform, and Twitter’s board of directors has announced that they are suing Musk to ensure that the deal goes through as originally agreed.
After news broke that Musk wanted out of the deal on Friday, Twitter employees quickly posted some humorous tweets about the situation. One said on Twitter that they “unilaterally foreclosed on my mortgage and are happy they don’t have to pay it anymore,” referring to the fact that it’s unclear whether Musk is allowed by law to back out of the deal. In addition, another tweet said that a trip to Disney for employees had been canceled as a cost-cutting measure.
With a memo from Twitter’s general counsel (translated)
Team members.
Today, we received notice of the alleged termination of the agreement from Elon Musk, and the Twitter Board of Directors issued the following statement in response [see tweet from company Chairman Bret Taylor].
The Twitter Board is committed to completing the transaction at the price and terms agreed to with Mr. Musk and plans to take legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident that we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
Given that this matter has become an ongoing legal issue, you should refrain from posting or sharing any comments about the merger agreement on Twitter and Slack. We will continue to share information as circumstances permit, but please know that the information we can share in the meantime will be very limited.
I know this is an uncertain time, and I appreciate your patience and continued support of our important work.
