The Twitter controversy with Elon Musk over his $44 billion (about 3,51,500 crore) takeover faces its first test on Tuesday, when a judge will weigh the company’s bid for a fast-tracked trial where they say they need to finance the deal. will not be elucidated. The San Francisco-based company is looking to address months of uncertainty for its business as Musk tries to turn down the deal because of what he says are “spam” Twitter accounts that he says is fundamental to its value.
Twitter asked Prime Minister Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Premier Court to find Musk violated the merger agreement and ordered him to complete the merger at the agreed price of $54.20 (about Rs 4,300) per share.
Twitter wants an emergency hearing in September, alleging that Musk is smearing Twitter and undermining operations by refusing to approve business initiatives, such as employee retention plans.
The company said applying Musk’s “slow walk” proposal to a 2023 trial would leave little time for additional lawsuits over funding the deal should Musk be ordered to close. The funding for the deal expires in April.
On Friday, Musk accused Twitter of looking for a “vertical speed” test to “rail” acquisition of his company.
Since agreeing to buy Twitter in April, Musk has questioned whether the company misleads regulators about fake accounts and bots and said he has proposed a trial in February to Give him adequate time to investigate.
Shares of Twitter fell from over $50 (roughly Rs 4,000) a share when the deal was announced to as low as $32.55 (roughly Rs 2,600) last week.
Minor Myers, a professor at UConn School of Law, said he expected McCormick to adopt a testing schedule close to Twitter’s proposal.
“The longer it lasts, the more Twitter distracts Twitter,” he said. “There’s more risk, more things can go wrong.”
© Thomson Reuters 2022
