It is a story filled with many twists and turns.
The legal battle between Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and Twitter (TWTR) It still holds surprises.
Musk made an offer to take over the platform for $44 billion on April 25, three weeks after revealing that it had become the largest shareholder with a 9.1% stake. After hesitating about this unwanted offer, Twitter has finally accepted the offer of the Tesla CEO (TSLA) Which was based on the stock price of $54.20.
Musk also promised to make Twitter private and solve the problem of spam bots or fake accounts that undermine many social networks.
But on July 8, after new public battles and a slump in financial markets, the tech mogul abruptly withdrew his offer, saying Twitter had lied about the number of fake accounts on the platform, which he said constituted a material breach of the agreement.
Delayed sedimentation
Twitter responded by filing a lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court seeking to force Musk to honor his original pledge.
A five-day trial is scheduled for October 17, unless there is an agreement by then between the parties. Here is a guide to this unconventional fight.
Introductory filings started a few days ago with Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter who also happens to be a friend of Musk. These sediments are special.
Twitter’s current CEO, Parag Agrawal, was due to be questioned by Musk’s attorney in San Francisco on September 26.
But Agrawal asked to reschedule the deposit, TheStreet learned from sources familiar with the matter. Musk’s camp was informed at the last minute, on September 25.
However, Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney with Queen Emmanuel’s firm in New York, personally made the trip to California for the filing. He was still in California at the time of writing.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss this part of the court battle that is supposed to take place behind closed doors, said the two sides have yet to agree on a new date for Agrawal’s testimony.
What is certain is that Agrawal must answer Musk’s attorney’s questions before the trial begins.
Spiro and Twitter declined to comment.
No settlement talks
TheStreet also learned that there was an error in the billionaire’s filing date. Court files suggested that Musk be questioned on September 26 and 27 by Twitter’s attorney and that the filing, which was due to take place at a law firm in Wilmington, Dell, could be extended through September 28.
But according to two sources familiar with the matter, September 26 was just a pending date, not something definitive.
However, one source said that Musk will be giving an interview this week. Perhaps not on September 27 because Chancellor Kathleen McCormick scheduled a hearing that day on several points of friction between the two sides.
Rumors of temporarily rescheduling these filings caused Twitter shares to surge more than 3% in the stock market on September 26. Investors saw this as the beginning of negotiations on a possible settlement between the two parties.
But according to informed sources, no negotiations are currently underway.
These novels have great risks, as we wrote recently.
Musk’s lawyers are keen to prove that Twitter is hiding information about the true number of its users. Twitter’s lawyers are seeking to prove that Musk abandoned the pursuit of the platform due to the decline in financial markets.
Given Twitter’s current share price – $41.52 – Musk, whose offer was $54.20 per share, would therefore pay a heavy price.
