Usually in a hurry, Elon Musk does not want to rush anything this time. The American billionaire on Friday filed a motion opposing Twitter Inc’s request to expedite proceedings regarding its decision to end its agreement to buy the social network.
On Tuesday, Twitter filed lawsuits against Musk for breaching the platform’s purchase agreement, asking a Delaware court to order the merger at the agreed price of $54.20 per share, or $44 billion. The merger agreement ends on October 25, so the company has requested that the trial begin in September to be able to respect the schedule, and not to prolong the period of uncertainty which partially paralyzes the company. In its complaint, Twitter accused the whimsical boss of “hypocrisy” and “bad faith”, he who unilaterally, a few days earlier, terminated the takeover agreement.
In documents filed with the Court of Chancery in Delaware (eastern United States), Musk’s lawyers believe that Twitter’s “unjustifiable request” to settle the dispute in two months should be dismissed.
“Two months of dithering and obfuscation”
The lawsuit will require analyzing “mountains of data” to prove, as the world’s richest man claims, that the platform is riddled with inauthentic accounts, rogue accounts and “spam bots”, well beyond the proportion of 5% indicated by the company.
“Twitter’s sudden request to step up a gear after two months of dithering and obfuscation is its latest tactic to conceal the truth about the spam accounts long enough to push defendants to conclude the lawsuit,” the filing further states. . They are asking for a trial date “on or after” February 13 next year.
The debt financing package committed by the banks for Musk’s acquisition expires in April 2023. This means that if the lawsuit begins in February and does not end until April, the deal could fail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in the Delaware Court of Chancery.