Twitter has been granted an expedited hearing for its push to compel Elon Musk to fulfill his $44 billion acquisition, citing the Tesla billionaire’s continuous harm to the company. Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled in favor of Twitter, setting the trial date for October. Mr. Musk’s legal representation attempted to postpone the trial until next year.
In its argument, Twitter will assert that Mr. Musk should be compelled to proceed with the acquisition, which was originally agreed upon in April but fell apart earlier this month. Mr. Musk backed out, alleging that Twitter had failed to disclose the number of fake accounts on the platform adequately.
Twitter’s legal team accused Mr. Musk of creating an excuse to withdraw from the deal by claiming that the company had misrepresented information to investors. Specifically, Mr. Musk has contended that Twitter significantly underreports the number of “bots” or spam accounts, while Twitter maintains that about 5% of accounts are bots, Mr. Musk believes the true figure is closer to 20%.
During a Zoom hearing in the Chancery Court of Delaware, Twitter asserted that the number of bots on the platform is irrelevant, and argued that Mr. Musk is obligated to complete the merger. Bill Savitt, a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, suggested that Mr. Musk had second thoughts about the deal and is now feigning an attempt to finalize the merger.
Twitter’s lawyer contended that Mr. Musk made baseless demands for data that Twitter was not required to provide, while publicly attacking the company in an effort to undermine the acquisition. In response, Mr. Musk’s lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan claimed that Twitter has been evasive in providing requested data on bot accounts on the platform.
The lawyers alleged that Twitter imposed an unreasonably demanding schedule for the trial, necessitating both parties to sift through vast amounts of data. Twitter seeks to enforce Mr. Musk’s offer of $54.20 per share, well above the current share price of about $40. Following the court’s decision to set a trial date later this year, Twitter’s shares increased by 3% during early trading on Tuesday.
Although Elon Musk still owns approximately 9% of Twitter, the company’s legal team claimed that the billionaire has been using powers provided by the merger agreement to impede Twitter’s regular operations. Andrew Rossman of Quinn Emanuel countered the allegation, stating, “The idea that Mr. Musk is trying to harm the company is absurd.”
The case is ongoing.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
