Social media platform Twitter and the world’s richest man Elon Musk are going to court after all. Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware Chancery Court granted Twitter a five-day trial against Elon Musk in an attempt to force Tesla’s CEO to honor the previously agreed acquisition of the company.
Musk made an official $44 billion bid for Twitter back in April but decided to pull out of the deal earlier this month. The billionaire explained his decision by saying that the social media powerhouse “is in material breach of multiple provisions” of the agreement. Among other things, Musk singled out Twitter’s unwillingness to give him access to data about fake/spam accounts and the company’s recent layoffs.
Twitter believes that Musk needs to close the purchase and is not giving up on the sale. The company is trying to force the deal to go through despite Musk’s decision or at least get the $1 billion breakup fee. Their chances of getting either of those is now a lot bigger thanks to the granted trial.
Twitter previously wanted the trial to take place in September, wanting to wrap it up before October 24, 2022, a deadline that allows both sides to walk away from the agreement if the deal isn’t finalized. On the other hand, Musk wanted to have the trial pushed back to February. In the end, McCormick sided with the social media company.
“The reality is that delay threatens irreparable harm to the seller, Twitter, for the reasons I described earlier: The longer the delay, the greater the risk. Given this reality I think a schedule closer to the norm is in order. For this reason, I think we should go to trial in October of this year,” McCormick said in her ruling on Tuesday.