Twitter, Musk trial over $44 bn deal begins in October

Washington: United States Delaware Court of Chancery chancellor Kathaleen McCormick on Tuesday ruled in favor of Twitter that the company’s lawsuit against Elon Musk over their $44 billion acquisition agreement should go to a five-day trial in October.
During the hearing, Twitter’s lawyer argued that a quick trial schedule is imperative to

stop the ongoing harm Twitter has experienced from the uncertainty of the deal’s closure and alleged disparagement by Musk.
William Savitt, Twitter’s lawyer, also alleged Musk’s attempts to delay the trial may be a ploy to “run out the clock” by leaving little time for appeals before the debt commitments he made to finance the deal expire.
“Musk has been and remains contractually obligated to use his best efforts to close this deal,” Savitt said. “What he’s doing is the exact opposite; it’s sabotage,” reports CNN.
Musk’s lawyer, Andrew Rossman, argued the expedited timeline was far too aggressive for his team to review the massive data trove at Twitter, which Musk wants to review to verify the percentage of spam accounts on the platform.
He said Musk “doesn’t have an incentive to keep this hanging for a long time,” noting that the billionaire remains one of Twitter’s largest shareholders.
In July Musk, via his attorneys, sent a letter to Twitter chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde explaining why the billionaire believed his acquisition should no longer proceed.
Twitter later sued Musk and some of his associates in late July over allegations that the billionaire “refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.” (UNI)