Twitter says Musk's latest attempt to walk away from $44bn deal is 'invalid'       

Musk said Twitter should have notified him before it spent $7.75m in a separation agreement with Peiter Zatko, the company’s former security chief and whistleblower

It is Musk’s third attempt to withdraw his offer because of what he says are violations of the buyout agreement.

Twitter said Elon Musk’s latest move to cancel his agreement to buy the social network is invalid after the billionaire said the company’s treatment of a whistleblower gave him another reason to walk away from the $44bn (€43.5bn) deal.

Mr Musk’s latest move to terminate the deal is “invalid and wrongful” and “Twitter has breached none of its representations or obligations”, the company’s lawyers said in a letter. 

It is Musk’s third attempt to withdraw his offer because of what he says are violations of the buyout agreement. Mr Musk previously raised concerns about the number of “bot” accounts on the platform, and now has said  Twitter should have notified him before it spent $7.75m in a separation agreement with Peiter Zatko, the company’s former security chief.

Mr Zatko is due to testify this week about his whistleblower report, in which he raised concerns about lax security, privacy issues and the number of bots on the platform. He has been subpoenaed to testify in the Twitter lawsuit, as well. 

Delaware chancery judge Kathaleen St Jude McCormick has allowed Musk to add Mr Zatko’s allegations of “egregious deficiencies” at Twitter to his legal arguments, permitting the billionaire to argue a material adverse effect on the acquisition through Twitter’s failure to disclose Mr Zatko’s statements. 

• Bloomberg