A Delaware judge has decided to halt the lawsuit filed by Twitter against Tesla CEO Elon Musk for non-completion of the proposed $44 billion takeover and order the deal to be completed by October 28. Till the 28th, Judge Kathleen McCormick said that the litigation will temporarily stay halted.
Earlier, Musk asked a United States judge on Thursday to suspend Twitter’s lawsuit. Musk’s request came after Twitter decided to go forward with the litigation for now despite of the billionaire’s assurances regarding the deal.
“As a result, there is no need for an expedited trial to order defendants to do what they are already doing and this action is now moot,” said the court filing according to AFP.
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The filing also stated Musk is currently working on securing the funds needed to complete the takeover deal and it should be completed by October 28.
“Twitter will not take yes for an answer. Astonishingly, they have insisted on proceeding with this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders’ interests.”
Proceeding with a trial could drag out payment to Twitter’s shareholders by months, the filing added.
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Musk decided to resume his interest in the social media company after backing out due to allegations regarding the total number of fake users. Musk said that there are around 20 per cent of fake users on Twitter but the company denied it all and said that it is around five per cent.
On Tuesday, Musk submitted a request saying that he is willing to complete a deal at $54.20 a share – the original offer made by Tesla. Twitter has also expressed their willingness to complete the deal.
However, the company has not suspended the lawsuit which is supposed to begin on October 17 at the Delaware Court of Chancery. As a result, Musk can face deposition in the coming days.