Matt O’Brien and Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press
Posted Thursday, October 6, 2022 3:59 PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, October 6, 2022 7:21 PM EDT
NEW YORK — A judge has delayed an impending lawsuit between Twitter and Elon Musk, giving the Tesla CEO more time to close his $44 billion deal to buy the company after months of fighting his way out.
Musk had called for a halt to the upcoming Delaware lawsuit, where billionaire Tesla had to misbehave against Twitter’s lawsuit to force him into his April merger deal. Musk relaunched the tender offer on Monday, but said he needed time to get the financing in order.
Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, chief of the Delaware chancery court, said Thursday that Musk and Twitter now have until Oct. 28 to complete the deal. A trial originally scheduled for October 17 will take place in November if they don’t, she said.
Twitter had asked McCormick on Thursday to press ahead with the lawsuit, saying the billionaire was refusing to accept the “contractual obligations” of his April deal to buy the social media company and take it private.
Twitter took issue with Musk’s claim that the San Francisco-based company refused to accept his new offer. Musk told Twitter earlier this week he was ready to buy the company after it tried to pull out of the deal over the summer, accusing it of refusing to give him account information. “spam bot” on the service.
Twitter described Musk’s decision to delay the lawsuit as “an invitation to further wrongdoing and delay” after his arguments for terminating the deal were unfounded.
But after the judge’s decision, Twitter reiterated in a statement that it was ready to complete the share price agreement agreed to in April: “We look forward to closing the transaction at $54.20 by on October 28,” referring to the price originally offered by Musk. for each Twitter share.
Andrew Jennings, a professor at Brooklyn Law School, said Twitter wanted to be sure the deal would go through and not give Musk “wiggle room to walk away again.”
Musk’s attorneys argued that Twitter disagreed with the trial delay “based on the theoretical possibility” that Musk would not offer the funding, which they called “baseless speculation.”
They said Musk’s backers “have indicated they are prepared to honor their commitments” and are working to complete the deal by October 28.
Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, said in a statement Thursday that “Twitter offered Mr. Musk billions off the transaction price,” but Musk “refused because Twitter attempted to impose certain self-serving conditions. in agreement”. He did not specify what those conditions were. Twitter did not describe the talks beyond what his attorneys told the court.
Shares of Twitter fell $1.91, or 3.7%, to close at $49.39 on Thursday. It was the second day of decline for the stock after rising more than 22% on Tuesday after Musk renewed his bid to buy the company.
