NEW YORK 鈥� A judge has delayed a looming trial between Twitter and Elon Musk, giving more time to close his $44 billion deal to buy the company after months spent fighting to get out of it.
Musk had asked to halt the upcoming Delaware court trial, where the Tesla billionaire was expected to fare poorly to force him to complete his April merger agreement. Musk but said he needed time to get the financing in order.
Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, head of the Delaware Chancery Court, said Thursday that Musk and Twitter now have until Oct. 28 to close the deal. A trial originally set for Oct. 17 will happen in November if they don鈥檛, she said.
Twitter had asked McCormick earlier Thursday to proceed with the trial, saying the billionaire refuses to accept the 鈥渃ontractual obligations鈥� of his April agreement to buy the social media company and take it private.
Twitter disputed Musk鈥檚 claim that the San Francisco-based company is refusing to accept his renewed bid. Musk told Twitter earlier this week he鈥檚 ready to buy the company once again after trying to back out of the deal over the summer, accusing it of refusing to give him information about 鈥渟pam bot鈥� accounts on the service.
Twitter described Musk鈥檚 move to delay the trial as 鈥渁n invitation to further mischief and delay鈥� after his arguments for terminating the agreement haven't had merit.
But after the judge's ruling, Twitter reiterated in a statement that it was ready to close the deal on the share price agreed upon in April: 鈥淲e look forward to closing the transaction at $54.20 by October 28th,鈥� referring to the price Musk originally offered for each Twitter share.
Brooklyn Law School professor Andrew Jennings said Twitter wants to be certain that the deal will get done and not allow 鈥渨iggle room for Musk to walk away again.鈥�
Musk attorneys argued that Twitter was disagreeing with the trial delay 鈥渂ased on the theoretical possibility鈥� of Musk not coming up with the financing, which they called 鈥渂aseless speculation.鈥�
They said Musk鈥檚 financial backers 鈥渉ave indicated that they are prepared to honor their commitments鈥� and are working to close the deal by Oct. 28.
Musk attorney Alex Spiro said in a statement Thursday that 鈥淭witter offered Mr. Musk billions off the transaction price鈥� but Musk 鈥渞efused because Twitter attempted to put certain self-serving conditions on the deal.鈥� He didn鈥檛 elaborate on what those conditions were. Twitter hasn鈥檛 described the talks beyond what its attorneys have said in court.
Twitter鈥檚 shares fell $1.91, or 3.7%, to close at $49.39 on Thursday. It was the stock's second day of declines following a surge of more than 22% on Tuesday after Musk made his renewed offer to buy the company.
Matt O'brien And Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press
