Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned on Friday he was terminating his $44 billion deal for Twitter, citing a cloth breach of a number of provisions of the settlement.

The announcement seemingly brings to an finish a will-he-won’t-he saga after the world’s richest individual clinched a deal for Twitter in April however then put the buyout on maintain till the social media firm proved that spam bots accounted for lower than 5 % of its complete customers.

Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor mentioned on the micro-blogging platform that the corporate’s board deliberate to pursue authorized motion in Delaware Courtroom of Chancery to implement the merger settlement.

“The Twitter Board is dedicated to closing the transaction on the worth and phrases agreed upon with Mr. Musk…,” he wrote.

“We’re dedicated to closing the transaction on the worth and phrases agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plan to pursue authorized motion to implement the merger settlement,” Twitter mentioned in a press release. “We’re assured we’ll prevail within the Delaware Courtroom of Chancery.”

In a submitting, Musk’s attorneys mentioned Twitter had failed or refused to answer a number of requests for info on pretend or spam accounts on the platform, which is prime to the corporate’s enterprise efficiency.

“Twitter is in materials breach of a number of provisions of that Settlement, seems to have made false and deceptive representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when coming into into the Merger Settlement,” the submitting mentioned.

Musk additionally argued that Twitter has didn’t function its regular course of enterprise. The San Francisco-based firm instituted a hiring freeze, fired senior leaders and noticed different main departures.

“The corporate has not acquired dad or mum’s consent for modifications within the conduct of its enterprise, together with for the particular modifications listed above,” Musk mentioned within the letter.

Final month, Twitter allowed Musk entry to its “firehose,” a repository of uncooked information on a whole lot of thousands and thousands of day by day tweets.

Musk’s cope with Twitter had included a provision that if it fell aside, the get together breaking the settlement would pay a termination charge of $1 billion, below sure circumstances. Authorized consultants have debated whether or not the battle over spam bots is sufficient to enable Musk to stroll away from the deal.

The choice is more likely to lead to an extended protracted authorized tussle between the billionaire and the 16-year-old firm.

Musk could not have the ability to stroll away just by paying the termination charge. The merger settlement features a particular efficiency provision that enables Twitter to drive Musk to consummate the deal, in accordance with the unique submitting. That might imply that, ought to the deal find yourself in courtroom, Twitter would possibly safe an order obligating Musk to finish the merger relatively than profitable financial compensation for any violations of it.

On June 6, Twitter doubled down on its promise to carry Musk accountable to the phrases of his proposed takeover, a suggestion even then that the corporate thought he could be attempting to explode the deal. The corporate once more Thursday mentioned it could search to implement the merger if Musk selected to contest it.

As with many different high-profile transactions, Twitter and Musk agreed that any authorized disputes should be heard by Delaware courts, that are properly versed in shortly sorting merger-and-acquisition complexities. Based mostly on earlier merger fights, efforts to terminate a deal can play out inside just a few months, typically ending with settlements to keep away from additional wrangling.

Musk’s determination to publicly pull the plug on the deal might be nothing greater than a negotiating ploy, mentioned Charles Elson, a retired College of Delaware professor and former head of the college’s Weinberg Heart for Company Governance.

Regardless of Musk’s assertion that Twitter’s dealing with of the bots situation quantities to breach of the buyout settlement that justifies canceling the deal, he and his attorneys know they’ll have an especially tough time making that declare, Elson mentioned.

“This isn’t a cloth hostile change,” Elson mentioned. “That’s only a negotiating place. He is aware of the Delaware courts are extraordinarily reluctant to seek out one thing like that in these offers.”

Following Musk’s disclosure, Twitter’s shares fell about 5 % after the shut of normal buying and selling. The shares, which have fallen about 15 % this 12 months, closed common buying and selling Friday at $36.81, giving the corporate a market worth of $28 billion.

Beneath Delaware courtroom guidelines, both Musk or Twitter would have the ability to ask a decide to place its case on a quick monitor, accelerating deadlines for exchanges of pre-trial info and enabling a fast trial. Beneath state legislation, judges can order events to consummate a merger if the objector fails to make a reliable case for strolling away.

The judges even have a say over whether or not breakup charges should be paid. Within the Musk-Twitter deal, that charge is for $1 billion.

To flee the deal, Musk should show some “sudden basic, everlasting hostile occasion” has occurred that blew an un-patchable gap within the transaction, mentioned Larry Hamermesh, a College of Pennsylvania legislation professor.

Chancery judges have solely acknowledged one case through which a so-called materials hostile occasion occurred.

That case concerned Fresenius’ $4.3 billion buyout bid in 2018 for rival drugmaker Akorn. A Delaware decide blessed Fresenius’ determination to stroll away from the deal after discovering Akorn executives hid an array of issues that forged doubt on the validity of knowledge backing up approval for some medication and profitability of its operations.

It doesn’t matter what occurs within the authorized enviornment, the jockeying over Twitter has left some offers attorneys marveling over Musk’s chutzpah and predicting he’ll get a worth minimize.

“Even after Twitter’s assertion that it’s sticking to its weapons, the board would possibly properly be tempted to take a haircut in an effort to finish what’s, I feel, maybe the weirdest major-merger course of within the final 50 years, if not ever,” mentioned Robert Profusek, head of the merger-and-acquisition division on the Los Angeles primarily based legislation agency Jones Day.

Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report.