The Delaware Court of Chancery dealt a blow to Elon Musk on Tuesday when it agreed to let Twitter expedite its lawsuit against the billionaire. The Twitter lawsuit now is expected to go to trial in October.
Twitter made the request for a speedy trial to force Musk to complete a $44 billion takeover deal reached in April. Before canceling his purchase, Musk had agreed to buy the social media giant for $54.20 a share.
The Chancery Court judge set a five-day October trial for the lawsuit. Twitter had asked for a mid-September trial, while Musk asked for a trial date in February 2023.
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Musk and his team of lawyers opposed the move for an expedited trial on grounds it will take months to obtain information from Twitter and depose witnesses. Musk, after reaching an agreement to acquire Twitter for $44 billion pulled out, blaming the number of fake accounts on the service.
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Twitter has said about 5% of Twitter accounts are spam, bots or fakes. Musk claims the number is 20% or higher.
By backing out of the deal, Musk might have to pay $1 billion or more for breaching the agreement. Similarly, if Musk can prove this claim, which he has been unable to do thus far, Twitter might have to pay the breakup fee. Or the court could force Musk to complete the transaction.
In afternoon trading on the stock market today, Twitter stock rose 3.4% to 39.70.
Please follow Brian Deagon on Twitter at @IBD_BDeagon for more on tech stocks, analysis and financial markets.
