Judge sets expedited Twitter v. Musk trial for October

A Delaware judge granted Twitter’s request for an expedited trial in its lawsuit seeking to force Elon Musk to uphold his agreement to buy the social media company for $44 billion.

Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick said the case will proceed with a five-day trial in October, favoring Twitter's request for a speedy trial to avoid the irreparable harm delays might cause.

The lawsuit marks the latest in a monthslong back-and-forth between Twitter and Musk over his April offer to buy the platform for $54.20 per share and take the company private. Market conditions have since depressed Twitter’s value. Musk is trying to get out of the deal over claims that the company has failed to cooperate with his endeavors to determine the number of fake accounts on the platform.

Twitter is seeking to force Musk to buy the company by Oct. 24, and had sought a September trial. McCormick's decision could indicate Musk's arguments that he needed more time to assess the number of fake accounts on the platform may not play into the court's ultimate decision on the case.

In setting the October date, McCormick said, “The longer the merger transaction remains in limbo, the larger the cloud of uncertainty casts over a company and greater the risk of irreparable harm to sellers and to the target itself.”

Musk had requested a February 2023 trial, saying that additional time is needed for the court to review a case of “this enormous magnitude” before his debt financing expires on April 25, 2023. His lawyer Andrew Rossman said that since the two parties are in litigation, the Oct. 24 deadline is now an artificial one, without meaning.

McCormick said that though the contractual language indicates the Oct. 24 deadline is "not a hard and fast deadline," delays threaten "irreparable harm to the sellers and Twitter."

Musk had said that fake spam accounts make up more than the reported 5 percent of Twitter's monetizable daily active users, a figure the company has claimed in multiple SEC filings.

A Twitter spokesperson said the company is "pleased that the court agreed to an expedite the trial." Musk's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Musk has been and remains contractually obligated to use his best efforts to close this deal,” Twitter’s attorney William Savitt said during the Tuesday hearing. “What he's doing is the exact opposite of best efforts.”

Savitt said the percentage of bots is not relevant. “Nothing in the merger agreement turns on that question,” he said. “The agreement doesn’t even mention bots or spam or anything like that.”

“Buyer’s remorse can be an overused phrase, your honor, but it sure looks like what we have and the false accounts appear to be the vehicle,” he said.