A judge in Delaware Chancery Court has given Elon Musk until October 28 to close his
acquisition of Twitter (TWTR) or face a trial.
Earlier this week, the Tesla (TSLA) chief executive officer said he would honour his original offer
to buy Twitter for $54.20 U.S. a share, or $44 billion U.S.
However, Musk also asked Twitter to end all litigation in the matter to close the deal. Twitter
refused and said it would maintain its current legal action until Musk closes the acquisition of the
social media platform.
Twitter has raised concerns that Musk and his legal team might be disingenuous and could try
further tactics to back out of the deal, which Musk formally abandoned this past July, citing an
excessive amount of spam and bots on the site as the reason for canceling the purchase.
In court, Twitter’s lawyers said that Musk’s latest proposal “is an invitation to further mischief
and delay.”
Twitter sued Musk in July to try and force him to honour the $44 billion U.S. purchase
agreement, which was signed in April. Twitter shareholders approved the purchase price in a
vote held in September.
Concerns have also been raised that Musk might have difficulty securing the financing needed
to close the Twitter acquisition.
Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America (BAC) are among the banks that have agreed to
provide $12.5 billion U.S. in debt for Musk to buy Twitter.
Twitter said in its latest legal filing that Musk “should be arranging to close on Monday, October
10,” but is instead refusing to “commit to any closing date.”
After hearing the arguments, a judge in Delaware Chancery Court ordered Musk to close the
deal by October 28 or a trial in the case will proceed.
