Well, this can’t be good for team Elon – Today, Delaware’s Court of Chancery ruled in Twitter’s favor for an expedited trial in the Musk acquisition case, giving the latter just five days to present their argument as to why Musk should be allowed to back out of the deal. The case is now pegged for October. Musk’s chances of wriggling out of this pickle just got a bit slimmer.

Downed The First Hurdle

What’s funny about this is that it apparently only took the chancellor 10 minutes to arrive at a decision. Musk’s legal team sought to extend the trial’s length, arguing that it needs more time to review the data acquired and that Twitter seeks to only obfuscate its figures on fake and spam accounts by having the timeline expedited.

However, in another potentially chance-slimming blow for Musk, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick said that addressing this element isn’t necessary, since “nothing in the merger agreement turns on that question.” As reported by CNBC, Twitter’s lawyers argued that a quick trial is necessary ‘in order stop the ongoing harm Twitter has experienced from the uncertainty of the deal’s closure and alleged disparagement by Musk’.

Musk has been very vocal and public with his criticism of Twitter and its 5% bot accounts claim. Musk has also criticized Twitter’s leadership, its prospects, and even its board – if it wasn’t obvious already, Musk doesn’t really like Twitter and apparently gets a kick any chance he gets to roast it. Honestly, why use it so much then if you don’t like it, right? Oh well, that must be how some billionaire brains work.

Twitter says that Musk’s actions have violated the non-disparagement clause in the takeover agreement and it seems highly likely that it’ll eventually argue that Musk has caused it significant monetary harm due to his attacks, which Twitter will have a hard time recovering from, whether or not Musk is forced to pay up.

Twitter is in a bad spot right now; It’s pretty much a lose-lose – either it ends up in a worse market position as it picks up the pieces of Musk’s exit or it winds up being owned by someone who no longer wants it, which might honestly be worse. Even if Musk does end up being forced to buy it, what then? Do you think the guy would be able to put aside the bitterness of this entire takeover dispute and actually do a good enough job running the company? Based on his previous records and instances where he has publicly displayed his pettiness, we don’t think so.

The Wrap

Whatever the case, the outcome doesn’t seem to really favor Twitter. Meanwhile, Twitter also knows that Musk is trying to extend the trial’s time frame, which could end up further complicating his financing for the deal, giving him another opportunity to exit without paying up. It’s a pretty grim next stage for what once seemed to be a positive move for the app’s future. Musk was once viewed as a potential savior of the platform, now he stands to be its greatest villain. We wonder what the Elliott Management group thinks about all this?

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Sources 

https://bit.ly/3oAvRt3