Musk accuses Twitter of fraud in countersuit

Elon Musk accused Twitter of fraud in a countersuit over his aborted $44 billion deal for the social media company, which he claimed held back necessary information and misled his team about the true size of its user base.

The countersuit by the billionaire and Tesla CEO alleges that Twitter committed fraud, breach of contract and violation of a securities law in Texas, where Musk lives.

Musk’s counterclaims were filed confidentially last week and unsealed in a filing late Thursday at the Delaware Chancery Court.

Musk offered to buy Twitter earlier this year, then tried to back out of the deal by claiming the social platform was infested with a larger numbers of “spam bots” and fake accounts than Twitter had disclosed.

Twitter sued to force him to complete the acquisition. Musk responded by filing his countersuit.

Musk’s attorneys argue in the countersuit that Twitter “misrepresentations or omissions” distorted the company’s value and caused Musk to agree in April to buy it at an inflated price. They said Twitter’s own disclosures revealed that it has 65 million fewer “monetizable daily active users,” who can be shown digital ads, than the 238 million that Twitter claims.

The filing also said most of Twitter’s ads are shown only to a sliver of the company’s user base.

Musk’s team also accused Twitter of making too many major changes in recent months without consulting Musk, including personnel decisions and allegedly disobeying social media restrictions imposed by the government of India, which is Twitter’s third largest market. Musk had pledged to make Twitter a haven for free speech but has also said it must comply with the local laws where it operates.

Market misses on strong hiring, hint of more rate hikes

Stock indexes closed mostly lower Friday after a roller-coaster day following a blockbuster report on the U.S. jobs market that offered both good and bad news for Wall Street.

Stocks of technology and other high-growth companies once again took the brunt of the selling amid the rising-rate worries. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite cut its early losses and closed down 63.03 points, or 0.5%, at 12,657.55.

The good news on the jobs market helped to limit losses for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, whose stocks tend to move more with expectations for the overall economy. It added 76.65 points, or 0.2%, to close at 32,803.47.

The S&P 500 slipped 6.75 points to end at 4,145.19. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted a gain for the week.

Beyond the nation’s strong hiring, wage growth for workers also unexpectedly accelerated last month. That’s helpful for households trying to keep up with the fastest price gains in 40 years. But it also raises worries on Wall Street that inflation will become more embedded in the economy.

The two-year Treasury yield, which tends to track expectations for Fed action, jumped to 3.23% from 3.05% late Thursday. The 10-year yield, which influences rates on mortgages, rose to 2.84% from 2.69%.

Warner Bros. Discovery fell 16.5% for the biggest loss in the S&P 500 after reporting weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Monster Beverage lost 5.2% after it reported weaker profit than expected, though its revenue was stronger than forecast.

Smaller company stocks also weathered the turbulent trading to notch gains. The Russell 2000 index rose 15.37 points, or 0.8%, to close at 1,921.82.