Judge gives Elon Musk a break in Twitter trial, has until Oct. 28 to complete buyout

We were right to assume that the Musk-Twitter drama was far from over and that more dramatic events were to come. Soon after, Musk made it clear that he would continue with the acquisition on original terms and the acquisition of Twitter for $54.20 per share, the billionaire won a small victory before his long-awaited trial against Twitter. The trial, which was due to start on October 17, has now been adjourned.

It comes after Judge Kathleen McCormick granted a request made by Musk’s legal team, which asked to remove the Oct. 17 trial from the Court’s calendar “based on changed circumstances that effectively mooted this action.” For now, the trial has been adjourned until 5:00 p.m. on October 28, and if Twitter’s $44 billion acquisition is not completed by then, the trial could be held at a later date in November at the same court.

Musk is already fighting an uphill battle, as the preliminary phase was set with dramatic moments following the revelation of text messages between the Tesla CEO, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and others. Earlier this week, Musk abruptly reversed his stance against buying Twitter (something he himself had suggested) and agreed to go ahead with the acquisition under the terms the two sides had agreed to in April. It was also supposed to be taken down last week, which it was delayedand his testimony on Friday was again postponed.

A letter from Musk’s legal team to the Delaware Court of Chancery informed that the “action” (a.k.a. the lawsuit) is moot because Musk has announced his intentions to proceed and the lawsuit doesn’t need to order Musk and his team to do so. The letter informed that they have agreed to fulfill their obligations under the merger agreement to acquire Twitter and “complete the closing in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement.” They added that the debt financing parties are working together to finance the closing and the acquisition is expected to close by Oct. 28.

Unsurprisingly, the letter spared Twitter, saying that the company refuses to take yes for an answer and that it “insists on continuing this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and putting shareholder interests at risk. Continuing this process is not only a huge waste of party and judicial resources, but will also undermine the parties’ ability to close the deal.

In response, Twitter informed that it opposes the proposal and that the obstacle to ending this litigation is not that the company is unwilling to “take yes for an answer.” Instead, the defendants (Musk and his team) continue to “refuse to accept their contractual obligations” and that they have long “pursued increasingly implausible claims and repeatedly sought to delay the substantive process of implementing the Merger Agreement. Discovery has shown that each of these claims is completely unfounded.