The technological soap opera of the year is far from over. The judge presiding over the legal case between Elon Musk y Twitter decided this Thursday to postpone the judgment between both parties, which was to begin on October 17, until the 28th. Although the billionaire has not been able to definitively suspend the process, the court has given him eleven days to close the purchase agreement of the social network for 44,000 million dollars (about 41,000 million euros).
After months of accusations, the richest man in the world He changed his mind this Tuesday when he announced to the Twitter board his intention to comply with the pact closed on April 25 to buy the platform, a request that the social company accepted. Before, he had tried to lower the price agreed for that operation, well above the current value of the company. With this, Musk sought to avoid going to trial for breaching the agreement, a process that, according to industry experts, he had everything to lose.
The judge in the case Kathleen McCormick, has established that if Musk and the board have not reached an agreement on October 28, it will establish another start date for the trial in November. That decision has irritated the leaders of the social network.
Twitter doesn’t trust Musk
Twitter doesn’t trust this new move by the controversial businessman, who has been changing the course of his strategy in recent months. The US media warned on Tuesday that accepting the purchase of the social network now could be one more maneuver to extend the judicial case.
“On the eve of trial, the defendants declare that they intend to close the deal after all. ‘Trust us,’ they say, ‘we mean it this time,’ and so ask to be excused from trial on the bottom”
With the judge’s decision, Musk avoids having to testify under oath, an appointment that had marked for this same Friday. Twitter has criticized that extension. “Now, on the eve of trial, the defendants declare that they intend to close (the settlement) after all. ‘Trust us,’ they say, ‘we mean it this time,’ and so they ask to be exempt from a trial on the merits”, denounced Twitter’s lawyer, Kevin Shannonin a letter to the judge.
Problems for the purchase
Twitter’s concern goes further. The platform’s board has doubts that Musk may intend to gather the money enough to close the purchase. Lawyers for the company have noted that the tech tycoon has not yet finalized plans to unlock the more than $12 billion of financing from debt that he must receive from the banks that are helping him finance the operation. “Just this morning, a corporate representative from one of the lending banks stated that the Musk has not yet sent them a notice of loan and has not otherwise communicated to them that he intends to close the transaction, much less within a certain period of time,” Shannon told the judge.
Even if Musk did want to close the deal, there are questions about whether he could do so. The worsening of the economic situation since April means that the lending commitment of these banks be riskier now than then. In addition, two firms investment that in May they promised to help Musk by financing more than 1,000 million dollars for the operation have backed down in recent hours. All this indicates that the definitive purchase of Twitter could choke. The technological soap opera of the year is far from over.