Legal proceedings over Musk’s Twitter takeover temporarily halted

After Elon Musk’s surprising new commitment to take over Twitter, the lawsuit over the takeover has been put on hold for the time being. That is what the responsible judge Kathleen McCormick decided on Thursday (local time).

This means that the trial scheduled for October 17 has been shelved for the time being. However, McCormick put the lawsuit on clear terms: If Musk doesn’t complete the $44 billion acquisition of the SMS service by October 28, the parties to the dispute must prepare for a new trial in November.

Surprising turnaround

Musk surprisingly confirmed his original offer on Twitter on Tuesday, paving the way for a spectacular turnaround in the tough takeover dispute.

The Tesla boss even invalidated the April purchase agreement in July because Twitter allegedly gave false information about the number of fake accounts on his platform. However, the company insisted on compliance with the purchase agreement and went to court. A five-day trial in Delaware was actually scheduled for mid-October.

Fronts remain hardened

Despite Musk’s change of heart, the fronts have continued to harden. The star entrepreneur and Twitter are still in disagreement on key details that need to be worked out to close the deal. Instead of rapprochement, there have recently been new attacks, which means that there is still uncertainty about the completion of the transaction.

Musk’s lawyers filed a motion on Thursday to close and dismiss the case. Twitter immediately filed a counter-motion in which the company clearly denied this. The judge then set a time limit for the parties to the dispute to clarify the differences.

According to Twitter, Musk has so far kept a back door open to exit the deal by making the acquisition conditional on financing. The company is suspicious and wants to secure the deal before the legal dispute is fully settled.

On a confrontational course

Meanwhile, Musk was already on a confrontational course: “Twitter will not accept yes for an answer,” according to the court. “Amazingly, they insist on continuing the process.” Twitter thus jeopardizes the deal and jeopardizes the interests of its own shareholders.

In the counter move, the lawyers of the online platform made it clear that Musk no longer trusted him to abandon the purchase after months of maneuvering.

The hurdle isn’t that Twitter won’t accept a “yes” for an answer, but that Musk still refuses to abide by its contractual purchase obligations. Musk wants to implement a plan that will allow him, subject to certain caveats, to delay closing the deal at will and gain legal certainty in the event of a failure.

(dsc/sda/dpa)