A US judge in the Twitter-Elon Musk case has granted a stay on the trial, which is now on hold till October 28, as both the parties deliberate on how to close the $44 billion takeover deal.Judge Kathaleen McCormick at the Delaware Chancery Court in the US said that the "action is stayed until 5 p.m. on October 28, 2022, to permit the parties to close on the transaction".
"If the transaction does not close by 5 p.m. on October 28, 2022, the parties are instructed to contact me by email that evening to obtain November 2022 trial dates," she ruled late on Thursday.The stay was granted over the protests of Twitter's lawyers.
"Now, on the eve of trial, Defendants declare they intend to close after all. 'Trust us', they say, 'we mean it this time', and so they ask to be relieved from a reckoning on the merits," Twitter's lawyer Kevin Shannon wrote in a letter to the judge.
Musk's lawyers said that "Twitter will not take yes for an answer. Astonishingly, they have insisted on proceeding with this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders' interests."
Twitter has received a letter from Musk to go ahead with their original deal of $54.20 per share (or $44 billion).In a new filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk's legal team has also asked the court to adjourn the trial and all other proceedings.
Musk said: "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app. Twitter probably accelerates X by 3 to 5 years, but I could be wrong."