Without agreement, the trial initially scheduled for mid-October will take place in November, decided American justice. The billionaire proposed, Monday, to honor his commitment, and regretted that Twitter “insists on continuing the procedure”.
Le Monde with AFP
The judge in charge of litigation between Elon Musk and Twitter, gave, Thursday, October 6, until October 28 to the parties so that the boss of Tesla bought the social network. Otherwise, the trial initially scheduled for October 17 will take place in November.
A few hours earlier, the multimillionaire lawyers had requested the interruption of the proceedings undertaken to force their client to honor their commitment made in the spring to acquire the platform for $ 44 billion. They assured to expect the operation to be concluded “around October 28”.
Elon Musk had forced the hand of the Californian group’s board of directors to buy it in April, before returning unilaterally to the agreement a few weeks later. Monday, in a new flip-flop, he finally proposed to conclude the operation at the initially agreed price, as long as he obtained the necessary funds, and that Twitter ended his prosecution.
” Roublardise “
But after months of public attacks and changes of advice from the whimsical entrepreneur, the company wanted ringing and stumbling evidence of its seriousness. Twitter lawyers had therefore opposed the trial claimed by the opposing party earlier on Thursday, describing this possibility of “invitation to more ride and delay”.
Judge Kathaleen McCormick finally decided: “The procedure is suspended until October 28, 2022 at 17, to allow the parties to conclude the transaction. If it is not concluded [on this date and at this schedule ], the parties must contact me by email to obtain the dates of a trial in November. “
Since the beginning of the week, negotiations between the two parties had resumed, but they are routing on the condition of funding. In their motion, Elon Musk’s lawyers regret that Twitter “insists on continuing the procedure, endangering the transaction and playing with the interests of shareholders”.
“Twitter refuses to end his prosecution because of the theoretical possibility of future failure to complete the funding,” they note. But “this failure did not take place at this stage,” they underline. “On the contrary”, the creditors said “being ready to honor their obligations,” said lawyers. “Twitter-based Speculations have been refuted by the banks themselves.”
They believe that their client “agreed to do” what the company asked. “And yet, Twitter refuses to accept this positive response. In an incredible way, [the company] insists on continuing the procedure,” they protest.
“Huge waste”
But the blue bird group argued that he had no reason to trust the richest man in the world. “On many occasions”, the Musk clan “has not respected its obligation to do everything possible to conclude the operation,” replied the lawyers of Twitter.
“For months, [the opposing party] has advanced increasingly improbable accusations to delay the trial (…), accusations which appeared baseless” during preliminary hearings, they assured. “Now, on the eve of the trial, they say they want to conclude. (…)” Trust “they say,” we are serious this time “”, made the social network.
Elon Musk lawyers argued that “continuing the procedure [was] not only a huge waste of the resources of the parties and the court, that [went] to undermine the capacity of the parties to conclude the transaction “.