Elon Musk will no longer be impeached by Twitter’s lawyers on Thursday morning after both parties agreed to a postponement as they finalized the $44 billion purchase of the social media network. Financial times and Bloomberg report. Musk would be dropped off at Tesla’s Austin, Texas home for two days from 9:30 a.m. ahead of the trial’s scheduled start on Oct. 17. His statement was: pushed back earlier from the original date of September 28 due to concerns about exposure to COVID-19.
The impeachment should have happened last month
Musk has agreed to the purchase on the condition that Twitter drops the lawsuit against him. But the FT reports that negotiations are being held up over concerns that Musk could still try to get out of the deal if his $13 billion debt financing falls through. The CEO has reportedly tried to add a new condition to the deal that could see him walk away if his debt financing isn’t received, which Twitter is pushing back.
Twitter wants “precise contractual protection from the courts to ensure Musk would close the deal,” according to the FT.
Musk’s apparent change of mind about the deal this week follows months of legal analysts casting doubt on the strength of his case. The CEO waived due diligence when he signed the deal in April, undermining subsequent attempts to question Twitter’s spam account numbers. The legal battle was a major process for Musk, who recently saw many of his personal text messages made public as part of the discovery process.
A statement is likely to make things even messier for Musk. It could highlight “extremely inconsistent statements” that have the potential to create more legal problems, Eric Talley, a law professor at Columbia University, previously said. The edge.
As it stands, the trial is still scheduled for October 17. “The parties have not filed a provision to defer this action, nor have any parties filed for suspension,” Delaware Chancery Court judge overseeing the case, Kathaleen McCormick, wrote on Wednesday as reported by the Wall Street Journal. “I will therefore continue to move on to our trial that starts on October 17.” But given the current negotiations, Bloomberg notes that the process will “almost certainly” be suspended.
