The company’s proposal for the trial to start in September is opposed by the billionaire’s attorneys.
Elon Musk has filed a motion challenging Twitter’s bid to expedite the trial in relation to his intention to renegotiate his $44 billion purchase agreement with the social media giant.
In documents submitted to the Delaware Chancery court on Friday, Musk’s attorneys argued that Twitter’s “unjustifiable request” to have the merger case tried in two months should be denied.
It is the most recent action in what seems to be a significant legal battle between Musk and Twitter. The San Francisco-based firm is attempting to end months of uncertainty for its operations as Musk seeks to back out of the agreement due to what he claims is Twitter’s “spam bot” issue.
On Tuesday, Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk for breaking the terms of the agreement to purchase the social media platform, aiming to have a Delaware court order the world’s richest man to execute the transaction at the agreed-upon share price of $54.20.
Because the merger agreement with Musk expires on October 25, 2022, the business asked that the trial start in September.
In Musk’s case, Twitter is accused of using its sudden demand for warp speed—following two months of delay and obfuscation—as a new tactic to keep the public from learning the truth about spam accounts long enough to put pressure on the defendants to shut their accounts.
The argument over fake and spam accounts, according to Musk’s attorneys, is crucial to Twitter’s worth and requires a great deal of evidence and expertise. They argued that the discovery process would take a long time, and they asked for a trial date on or after February 13 of the next year.
The banks’ commitment to provide loan funding for Musk’s acquisition ends in April 2023. Therefore, the agreement may fall through if the trial started in February and did not end by April.
Twitter chose not to respond to the most recent move by Musk.
Twitter’s stock fell by nearly 1% during extended trading.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requested Musk to properly register any information intended to influence shareholders in his bid to acquire Twitter on Thursday. The SEC made the request after another file raised a problem.
