Tesla CEO Elon Musk Having lost the battle to delay Twitter’s case against him as a Delaware judge on Tuesday set a trial date in October, citing a “cloud of uncertainty” to the social media company after the billionaire reneged on a deal to buy it.
Prime Minister Kathaleen St. “Delays threaten irreparable harm,” said Jude McCormick, chief judge of the Delaware Premier Court, which handles many high-profile business disputes. “The longer the delay, the greater the risk.”
Twitter requested an urgent hearing in September, while Musk’s team called for waiting until early next year because of the complexity of the case. McCormick said Musk’s team underestimated the ability of the Delaware courts to “quickly handle complex litigation.”
Twitter is trying to force billionaires to make good on his April promise to buy the social media giant for $44 billion — and the company wants that to happen quickly because it thinks the ongoing dispute is harming its business.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has pledged to pay $54.20 a share for Twitter, but told the company in July that he wanted back to deal.
“It was a plot of sabotage. He’s trying his best to run Twitter,” said attorney William Savitt, who represented Twitter before McCormick on Tuesday. The hearing was mostly held after McCormick said she tested positive for COVID-19.
Musk has claimed that the company failed to provide sufficient information about the number of fake Twitter accounts, or “spam bots,” and that it violated its obligations under the agreement by firing managers. leading and laid off a large number of employees. Musk’s team hopes more information about the bot numbers will be revealed during the trial court discovery, when both sides must hand over evidence.
Twitter argued that Musk’s reason for pulling out was just a cover for buyer’s remorse after agreeing to pay 38% off Twitter’s share price just before stock market And shares of electric carmaker Tesla, where most of Musk’s personal fortune are located, have lost more than $100 billion in value.
Savitt said the controversial merger deal and Musk’s tweets disparaging the company were damaging the business and questioned Musk’s request to postpone the test, asking “whether the plan really works.” time is up or not”.
“He’s looking to get around the deal he signed,” Savitt said.
But the idea that the Tesla CEO is trying to derail Twitter is “absurd. He doesn’t care about harming the company,” said Musk’s attorney Andrew Rossman, noting that he is Twitter’s second-largest shareholder with a “much larger stake” than the entire company. company’s board of directors.
Savitt stresses the importance of an urgent test starting September so Twitter can make key business decisions that affect everything from employee retention to supplier relationships. and customers.
More time is needed, Rossman said, as it is “one of the largest private acquisitions in history” involving a “company with vast amounts of data that must be analyzed. Billions of actions on their platforms must be analyzed. “
