Twitter Files its Lawsuit, Says it Needs Just Four Days

Twitter Unloads on Musk

Twitter filed a much-anticipated lawsuit yesterday as it looks to force Elon Musk to close his $44 billion acquisition of the company. Twitter argues that it has every right to do so under a specific performance provision in the deal contract.

The company, with the help of lawyers at Wachtell (which has also worked for Musk), set fire to Musk’s efforts to drop the bid, which it argued were more about the drop in Tesla’s shares and its effect on Musk’s wealth than anything else.“Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests,” the company said in the suit, adding:

“Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away.” (Musk has not responded to a request for comment.)

Corporate Backlash Over SEC Climate Plan Takes Shape: Green Insight

Over the past four months, the agency has received dozens of letters from individuals and groups making their own recommendations on how it should proceed. It’s possible the SEC will water down specifics of the plan before holding a second vote to finalize the regulation. But the idea that the SEC will retract its plan is arguably close to zero, even as the expected political firestorm from right-wing groups grows.

California Is Investigating ‘Multiple’ Crypto Lending Companies

The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) is investigating several U.S.-based crypto lenders after a series of prominent lenders indefinitely halted withdrawals and transfers between user accounts, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.

The department didn’t name the companies under investigation, but it did say it is eyeing “multiple” companies that “offer customers interest-bearing crypto asset accounts,” or crypto-interest accounts, and service providers that “may not have adequately disclosed risks customers face when they deposit crypto assets onto [lenders’] platforms.”

Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger: Crypto is ‘an open sewer’

Berkshire Hathaway’s billionaire vice chairman Charlie Munger renewed his scathing criticism of the cryptocurrency sector – calling the industry a “sewer” full of bad actors selling digital coins that lack any actual value.

Munger, one of the financial world’s most vocal critics of cryptocurrencies, referred to the “crypto craze” as a “mass folly” during an interview published on Tuesday.

“I just avoid it as if it were an open sewer, full of malicious organisms,” Munger said in an interview with the Australian Financial Review. “I just totally avoid and recommended everybody else follow my example.”

Audit and Consulting Firms at Odds Over Who Should Verify Climate Data

The U.S. securities regulator in March said it wants companies to seek independent certification of certain new disclosures, including estimates of greenhouse-gas emissions from their operations and from the energy they consume. The assurance requirement would apply to companies with at least $250 million in publicly traded shares.

Only certified public accountants can audit public companies’ financial statements, per U.S. securities laws. But, under the SEC’s proposal, the attestation report could be prepared not only by external auditors but also by other service providers, such as an engineering, consulting or certification firm. The Big Four accounting firms—Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers—are pushing for narrower criteria on who can perform this duty, according to letters sent to the SEC as part of a public consultation that ended last month. Meanwhile, some non-accounting firms say technical expertise is important, and other observers say the market is big enough for both types of firms.