Twitter demanded its “day in court” after Elon Musk asked a judge to halt an upcoming lawsuit over his $44 billion deal to buy the company.
In another day of drama for the Twitter takeover saga, Musk’s lawyers revealed that a last-ditch bid by Tesla’s chief executive to avoid legal action had foundered.
After spending months in a high-stakes court battle to back out of his April deal to buy the social media company, Musk reversed course on Monday and offered to complete the deal at the original price of 54.20. $ per share.
“Twitter won’t take yes for an answer,” Musk’s attorneys said in the filing.
“Amazingly, they insisted on pursuing this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and playing with the interests of their shareholders.”
In response, Twitter said Musk’s surprise offer to complete the deal included unacceptable clauses and was an “invitation for further mischief and delay.”
“Until the defendants agree to shut down as required, Twitter is entitled to its day in court,” the company said.
The five-day trial over the deal is due to begin in Delaware on Oct. 17.
In a filing with the Delaware Chancery court, Musk’s representatives had argued that the deal could be reached on or around October 28 without a trial. The alternative, he added, is a deal-making process that could take months — even if the lawsuit continues and Twitter wins.
Representatives for Musk argued in the filing that they had done “exactly” what Twitter had requested by offering to complete the deal on agreed terms.
He added, “Going to trial is not only a huge waste of party and judicial system resources, it will undermine the parties’ ability to close the deal.
The filing claimed that Twitter was refusing to accept a break in the Oct. 17 lawsuit based on a “theoretical failure” to secure debt financing for the deal.
He said the lenders were “ready to honor” their obligations and accused Twitter of “baseless speculation” about the financial package. However, the document refers to the “much less likely possibility” of the debt going unfunded.
In its response, Twitter said it wasn’t refusing to take yes for an answer. He said the obstacle to postponing the trial was that Musk still refused to accept his “contractual obligations”.
The company added that one of the banks in the consortium lending Musk $12.5 billion said it had not yet been told by him that he intended to complete the deal.
