Fakoyejo Olalekan
World’s richest man, Elon Musk, now has until October 28 to complete the acquisition of Twitter or risk a court trial, a Delaware’s Court of Chancery in the United States has ordered.
The judge made the order on Thursday following Musk’s decision to proceed with the acquisition of the social networking company 12 days to the court trial on the lawsuit Twitter filed against him.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelTwitter had taken the billionaire to ensure he buys the company or risk paying a fine of up to $10 billion should the acquisition fail, after Musk attempted to pull out of the purchase agreement.
He had accused Twitter’s board of not providing certain user data he requested for, and also alleged that the less than five per cent bot accounts the firm claimed to have in its over 200 million monetised Daily Active Users (mDAU) was false.
On the basis, Musk said he was not moving forward with the $44 billion acquisition deal, and also hinted that the price be cut if it was discovered that the bot accounts are more than five per cent.
Twitter decided to settle the faceoff in court, and the trial, which was meant to last for a week, was scheduled to start on October 17, however, earlier this week, Musk made a U-turn, writing to Twitter that he would be buying the firm at the $44 billion price.
He also asked that Twitter drop the lawsuit to avoid his team from getting distracted while fundraising to finance the acquisition. Although Twitter turned him down, but the judge gave him until October 28 to buy the company or face trial.
Musk was unhappy with Twitter’s decision not to drop the lawsuit, stating that it is “recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders’ interests.”
“By far the most likely possibility is that the debt is funded in which case the deal will close on or around October 28.” The counsel to the Tesla Chief Executive Officer wrote in a filing.
They stated further, “counsel for the debt financing parties has advised that each of their clients is prepared to honor its obligations under the Bank Debt Commitment Letter on the terms and subject to satisfaction of the conditions set forth therein.”
Twitter responded in a filing, condemning Musk’s attempt to make them drop the case before he completes the acquisition, “’Trust us,’ they say, ‘we mean it this time,’ and so they ask to be relieved from a reckoning on the merits.”
Explaining further, the social media company said, “To justify that relief, they propose an order that allows them an indefinite time to close on the basis of a conditional withdrawal of their unlawful notices of termination coupled with an explicit reservation of all ‘claims and defenses in the event a closing does not occur.’”
