Elon Musk pulls out of $44 billion Twitter deal

The news comes a day after the deal was said to be "in serious jeopardy."Twitter told Insider before the announcement that it intended to enforce the contract. 

Lawyers for Elon Musk have notified the US Securities Exchange Commission that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is terminating the deal to acquire Twitter, and accusing the social media company of being "in material breach of multiple provisions" of the merger agreement.

Shares of Twitter fell roughly 6% following the news, while shares of Tesla ticked up by a percentage point.

The move comes after three months of speculation that began when Musk disclosed his ownership 9.2% of the company's shares, and a day after sources told the Washington Post that the deal was in "serious jeopardy" over the question of spam and bot accounts on the platform.

Representatives for Musk and for Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the filing.

Earlier Friday, just before the announcement, Twitter told Insider that it intended to enforce the contract.

"Twitter has and will continue to cooperatively share information with Mr. Musk to consummate the transaction in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement," the statement said. "We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms."