Twitter
File picture: Outside Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. Image Credit: NYT

New York: Twitter shares plunged Monday after Elon Musk announced the withdrawal of his $44 billion takeover bid, setting the stage for a potential legal brawl.

Shares in the social media giant ended down 11.3 per cent at $32.65 in the first session after Musk revealed late Friday he was dropping the takeover plan.

Musk followed up on Sunday night with a pair of mocking tweets after the company said it would sue the billionaire entrepreneur to force the deal to go through.

Meanwhile, Twitter demanded Monday that Musk complete the takeover, slamming the Tesla chief's withdrawal of his offer as "invalid and wrongful."

"Twitter has breached none of its obligations under the Agreement," attorneys for Twitter said in a letter to Musk's lawyers that was included in a securities filing late Monday.

"Twitter demands that Mr. Musk and the other Musk Parties comply with their obligations under the Agreement, including their obligations to use their respective reasonable best efforts to consummate and make effective the transactions contemplated by the Agreement."