Elon Musk may have to complete $44bn Twitter takeover, legal experts say

Elon Musk could be forced by a US court to complete his $44bn takeover of Twitter, according to legal experts, despite pulling the plug on the transaction.

The Tesla chief executive told Twitter on Friday that he is terminating the deal, citing concerns over the number of spam accounts on the social media platform.

On Sunday night, Bloomberg reported that Twitter had assembled a legal team to sue Musk.

One legal expert said he expected Twitter to file a lawsuit in Delaware, the US state that has jurisdiction over the deal, as soon as Monday.

Analysts have also speculated that Musk could use the legal battle to seek a lower price for Twitter, although investors are also expected to consider legal action if the deal fails to go through at $54.20 a share and sue for the difference between the sale price and the current stock price. Twitter is currently trading at $36.81 a share.