The platform launched prosecution against the boss of Tesla and Spacex last week to force him to honor his commitment to acquire it for $ 44 billion. > Le Monde with AFP
The legal battle between Twitter and Elon Musk opened on Tuesday, July 19, with a first audience, a week after the platform launched prosecution against the boss of Tesla and Spacex. An American judge set the start of the trial in October, for a period of five days, accessing the request of the social network for a quick procedure.
The platform launched, last week, prosecution against the boss of Tesla and Spacex to force him to honor his commitment to acquire it for $ 44 billion. Twitter wished an accelerated procedure, from September, so as not to make the period of uncertainty last which partly paralyz the company.
Judge Kathaleen McCormick, president of a court specialized in business law in Delaware (northeast), admitted that “deadlines were likely to cause irreparable damage to Twitter”. She also mentioned that he was not sure that the payment of damages on the part of Elon Musk is enough to repair the wrongs suffered.
Elon Musk’s lawyers had filed an appeal on Friday so that hostilities were not open before next year. They assure that experts will have to analyze “data mountains” to prove, as the multimillionaire affirms, that the platform is full of automated accounts and spam, far beyond the proportion of the 5 % officially reported . This is the reason that Elon Musk had given to end unilaterally to the acquisition of buying the social network which he considers as an “public place” essential to “democracy”.
Twitter favorite
“This subject, which according to Musk will require a complex examination, is a problem invented from scratch, designed to complicate things and cause delays,” argued William Savitt, Twitter lawyer. “The merger agreement does not even mention bots or spam,” he insisted. “We suspect that Mr. Musk wants to delay this trial long enough to never have to account. (…) He knows that in this kind of circumstances, late justice is often unrealized justice. It is even this that he hopes, “he said.
Although she is going through an image crisis after months of attacks and denigration on the part of her former pretender, the platform leaves favorite in this showdown. “The action of Twitter is in good shape” since the filing of the complaint, noted Dan Ives, analyst of Wedbush Securities. “It seems that many investors who read it have concluded that this confrontation at the Game of Thrones in the courts will end with a Twitter victory.”
By “victory”, the expert hears a decision by the judge who would force Elon Musk to buy the company at the agreed price at the end of April ($ 54.20 action) or to pay significant damages. The probability of it by leaving only the compensation for breaking the agreement, $ a billion dollars, or that it is declared in its right, is considered very low.
A trial can still be avoided
Litigation depends on the Delaware Court of Chancery, including its president Kathaleen McCormick – The first woman in this position – seized the file. “It is a very serious judge, who will not be intimidated by one or the other of the parties. (…) In the past, she has not been tender with those who show bad faith”, underlines Adam Badawi, professor of law at the University of Berkeley.
In his complaint, Twitter accused Elon Musk of having shown “hypocrisy” and “bad faith”. The company’s lawyers believe that it has changed their minds in the face of the recent drop in stock exchange for technological businesses.
Kathaleen McCormick is notably known for having imposed on Kohlberg, a company that had also tried to break up engagement, to buy the company in question, Decopac. The fate of the blue bird, a social network used worldwide by political figures, celebrities, activists and influencers, seems to have little in common with that of organizations less in sight. The multimillionaire and the board of directors can still choose to agree on a slightly lower price and thus avoid the trial.