Twitter and Elon Musk will head to a five-day trial starting October 17 in the Delaware Court of Chancery to argue their cases regarding Musk’s pending $44 billion acquisition of the social media company, Reuters reported today (July 29).
In April, Musk signed an agreement with Twitter’s board to acquire the company and take it private at $54.20 per share. On July 8, Musk abruptly decided to back out from the deal, citing a lack of clarity on Twitter’s fake user numbers and the company’s inability to provide him with necessary information to make his own assessment.
Twitter sued him days later, claiming that Musk would have violated the merger agreement by walking away. The social media company demands that Musk complete the acquisition under the initially agreed terms.
The judge presiding over the case, Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick, has ordered Musk’s attorney to file any legal claims against Twitter—essentially his own suit against Twitter—by 5 p.m. today (July 29). She has also delivered both parties several aggressive deadlines to prepare for the trial, including serving discovery requests by August 1 and completing depositions by September 29.
Musk and Twitter could avoid the trial if they reach a settlement before the trial date. Twitter is set to hold a shareholder meeting to vote on the acquisition on September 13.
