Shares in Twitter fell on Monday after Elon Musk announced he was pulling out of a $44bn (£36bn) deal to buy the social media platform. Mr Musk backed away after claiming Twitter failed to provide enough information on the number of spam and fake accounts on the site. Twitter plans to take legal action to make the deal go ahead and has hired a top US law firm. Mr Musk tweeted saying Twitter would need to “disclose bot info” in court.

The multi-billionaire then tweeted a picture showing American actor and martial artist Chuck Norris at a chessboard, with a follow up post saying “Chuckmate”. Twitter’s share price stood at about $34.40 in early Monday trading – falling further below the $54.20-a-share takeover price agreed by Mr Musk and Twitter’s board in April. It is the first time investors have been able to react to Mr Musk announcement on Friday that he wanted to pull out of the deal. Mr Musk – who is also the boss of electric car firm Tesla – announced plans to buy Twitter in April, but the deal was put on hold a month later due a row over the number of fake accounts on the platform. The original merger agreement includes a $1bn (£830m) break-up fee, but instead of pushing for Mr Musk to pay the sum, Twitter wants the businessman to compete the deal. “The Twitter board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr Musk,” its chairman Bret Taylor wrote in a tweet.(BBC)…[+]