Twitter hires law firm Wachtell to sue Musk after pulling out of $44 billion deal

July 10 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) has hired U.S. law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz LLP as it prepares to sue Elon Musk and force him to complete the $44 billion acquisition of the social media company, according to people familiar with the matter.

Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla , on Friday terminated his deal, saying Twitter had failed to provide information about fake accounts on the platform, after which Twitter’s chairman, Bret Taylor, vowed a legal fight. read more

Twitter is planning to file a law suit early this week in Delaware, people familiar with the matter said.

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Twitter declined to comment while the law firm did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment outside business hours.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was one of the legal advisers for Musk’s plan to take Tesla private in 2018. Musk tweeted that there was “funding secured” for a $72 billion deal to take Tesla private but did not move ahead with an offer.

Musk and Tesla each paid $20 million in civil fines, and Musk stepped down as Tesla’s chairman to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims that he defrauded investors.

Twitter’s existing legal team includes Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

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Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; editing by Diane Craft

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