Elon Musk’s attempt to postpone Twitter’s lawsuit against him failed, as a Delaware judge set an October trial date, noting the “cloud of uncertainty” over the social media company after the billionaire pulled out of a plan to buy it. Twitter wants the billionaire to follow through on his April vow to purchase the social media company for $44 billion.
The decision is a setback for Musk, who requested a trial in February to allow for a thorough examination into his claims that Twitter overstated the number of bogus or spam accounts.
Whether Twitter’s user statistics are overstated is central to his claim that he can back out of the arrangement. The firm, which had wanted a trial in September, claims the issue is a distraction and that the terms of the agreement require Musk to pay up.
Twitter argued that postponing the trial until next year would jeopardise deal financing.
On Tuesday, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery stated that the company deserved a quick ruling on its claims.
“The reality is delay threatens irreparable harm to the sellers,” she said, referring to Twitter.
McCormick urged the parties to plan the trial schedule, which she predicted would last five days.
“We are pleased that the court agreed to expedite this trial,” a Twitter spokesperson said.
Twitter is requesting that McCormick direct Musk to complete the transaction at the agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share. It stated that it required the earliest trial date feasible in case Musk was ordered to close and extra litigation was required to resolve financing, which expires in April.
During the hearing, Twitter’s lawyer, William Savitt, suggested that Musk seized on the problem of bot and spam accounts to “conjure an exit ramp for a deal that doesn’t have one.”
Musk’s counsel disputed the allegation that Musk was attempting to harm Twitter, pointing out that the billionaire’s investment was more than the combined holdings of Twitter’s board.
Musk said that a rushed trial would allow Twitter to conceal the facts about spam accounts, which he began questioning after signing the Twitter contract in late April.
“When Mr Musk started asking questions, the answers he got were alarming,” said Andrew Rossman, Musk’s lawyer. He stated that it would take months to study vast amounts of data to answer Musk’s concerns about Twitter’s spam accounts.
Musk is also facing a separate five-day trial before McCormick, which begins on October 24, on his record $56 billion Tesla pay package.