Twitter and Elon Musk prepare for trial in October trying to force tycoon to complete $44 billion takeover | Science & Technology News
Elon Musk’s offer to delay Twitter’s lawsuit against him until 2023 was rejected by a US judge, who allowed the social media giant to get a speedy trial.
The richest man in the world said he pull out of an agreement this month to buy the tech company for $44 billion (£36.6 billion) and the company is suing him to try to force him to live up to an earlier promise in April to acquire it. .
A judge in Delaware has now set up a beta for this October, citing the “cloud of uncertainty” on the social platform.
Twitter is pushing the case to court in September because it thinks the ongoing dispute is hurting their business.
But MuskTheir team managed to delay it until early next year because of how complicated the case was.
“The delay threatens irreparable harm. The longer the delay, the greater the risk,” said Prime Minister Kathaleen St Jude McCormick, chief judge of the Delaware Premier Court.
The boss of Tesla and SpaceX has pledged to pay $54.20 a share for Twitter, but told the company in July that he wanted to withdraw the deal.
“It’s vandalism. He’s doing his best to take down Twitter,” said William Savitt, a lawyer for the social media firm.
The tycoon claimed the company did not provide him with enough information regarding the number of fake Twitter accounts – spam bots.
And he said they violated their obligations by firing top managers and laying off a significant number of workers.
Musk’s team hopes to have more information about the number of bots that will come up during the trial’s discovery, when both sides must hand over evidence.
‘Musk tries to get through the deal’
Twitter thinks Musk is trying to back out because he agreed to pay 38% of Twitter’s share price just before the stock market fell.
And shares of electric carmaker Tesla, which holds most of his personal fortune, have lost more than $100 billion in value.
Mr Savitt said: “He’s trying to get around the deal he signed.
But Musk’s attorney, Andrew Rossman, insists that the Tesla CEO is trying to damage Twitter is “absurd”.
He said the entrepreneur “has no interest in harming the company”.
