Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow by choosing the correct/most appropriate options:
The acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk began on April 14, 2022, and concluded on October 27, 2022. Business magnate Elon Musk began buying shares of American social media company Twitter, Inc. in January 2022, eventually becoming the company's largest shareholder in April with a 9.1 percent ownership stake. Twitter then invited Musk to join its board of directors, which Musk at first accepted before subsequently declining. On April 14, he made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company for $43 billion, to which Twitter responded with a "poison pill" strategy to resist a hostile takeover. On April 25, Twitter's board of directors unanimously accepted Musk's buyout offer of $44 billion, with the company set to be taken private. Musk stated that he planned to introduce new features to the platform, make its algorithms open-sourced, combat spambot accounts, and promote free speech.
On May 13, Musk stated that the deal had been put "on hold" following reports that 5 percent of Twitter's daily active users were spam accounts, causing Twitter shares to drop more than 10 percent. Musk clarified that he remained committed to the acquisition, and Agrawal stated that he expected the deal to close. In response to a May 16 Twitter thread by Agrawal stating that an external review of the platform's users was impractical, Musk tweeted out a poop emoji. The following day, Musk reiterated that the acquisition could not "move forward" until Twitter could prove the aforementioned reports false, proceeding to urge the SEC to investigate Twitter's daily user numbers. The same day, Twitter filed new documents with the SEC, including a detailed timeline of Musk's purchase, and affirmed they would "enforce the merger agreement" regardless of Musk's actions. On May 25, Musk abandoned plans to partially fund the deal through margin loans against Tesla stock, instead opting to pledge an additional $6.25 billion in equity financing. Dorsey departed from Twitter's board the same day, while Twitter investor William Heresniak filed a class-action lawsuit against Musk, alleging that he had violated corporate laws in California by manipulating the market. The lawsuit further declared that Musk was not permitted by the acquisition contract to place the deal on hold and that Musk's misleading statements had contributed to declining Twitter stock prices.
On July 8, Musk announced his intention to terminate the proposed acquisition, claiming in a regulatory filing that Twitter was in "material breach" of several parts of the agreement by _______ and dismissing high-ranking employees. In response, Taylor pledged to pursue legal action against Musk at the Delaware Court of Chancery with the goal of completing the acquisition, with the ensuing lawsuit once again overseen by the Twitter board's transaction committee. Twitter's stock sank by 7 percent after the news, dropping by a further 11 percent the next day. On July 10, Twitter hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to represent its case, including "key lawyers" William Savitt and Leo Strine, along with Potter Anderson & Corroon, Ballard Spahr, Kobre & Kim, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Musk again employed the services of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan after previously doing so for Unsworth v. Musk and SEC v. Musk, including his personal lawyer Alex Spiro, as well as Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
On October 3, Musk's legal team informed Twitter that Musk had changed his mind and decided to move forward with his proposed acquisition at the originally agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share, on the condition that Twitter drops its lawsuit. The reason for this reversal was attributed to concerns from Musk's team that they would not be able to prove that there was a material adverse effect justifying a break from the contract. Musk and Agrawal's depositions were originally scheduled for October 6 and 10, respectively. Musk stated that his purchase of Twitter was part of his ambition to create an "everything app" called X, which will offer many different services. In response, McCormick asked both sides to propose to her how they should proceed. Twitter shares surged by 23 percent as a result of Musk's announcement. Neither Twitter nor Musk responded to McCormick's request, prompting her to announce that the trial would go forward as planned.
In the afternoon of October 27, Musk and Twitter closed the deal. Musk immediately became Twitter's new owner, promptly firing Agrawal, chief financial officer (CFO) Ned Segal, Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett, with the executives, escorted out of the company's headquarters by security. Agrawal, Segal, and Gadde were set to receive "golden parachute" sums of $38.7 million, $25.4 million, and $12.5 million, respectively, but Musk circumvented the agreement by asserting _______. Dorsey retained his $1 billion ownership stake, and several other executives departed Twitter in the ensuing days.