Elon Musk may tweet about the deal on Twitter, but not “judge the company or any of its representatives,” according to a securities filing.
Jakub Pozhicki | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Elon Musk and Twitter continued to battle on Monday, with the social media company slamming the Tesla CEO’s request for a slower test schedule. Musk is trying to end a deal he previously struck to buy Twitter and take it private for $54.20 a share, or about $44 billion.
Musk has repeatedly accused Twitter of lying about the number of bots and spam accounts on its platform. Twitter denied the claims and filed a lawsuit to force Musk to complete the deal.
Twitter wants to start a trial as early as September, but Musk has asked a Delaware court to reject his request for an expedited trial and aim for next year. His lawyers say Musk needs time to conduct exhaustive amounts of discovery about whether the company misrepresented the amount of spam and bot accounts on its platform.
In Monday’s statement, Twitter accused Musk of using delay tactics to hurt the company in the court of public opinion.
“The earliest possible trial date is imperative,” the company’s lawyers wrote. “This very public dispute is hurting Twitter with each passing day that Musk is on offense. Musk amplifies this harm by using the company’s own platform as a megaphone to belittle it.”
Twitter’s lawyers note in their filing: “Millions of shares of Twitter trade daily under a cloud of doubt created by Musk. No public company of this size and scale should have had to endure these uncertainties.”
The chancellor assigned to hear the case, Kathleen St. J. McCormick, on Monday informed the parties that she has Covid. Instead of postponing the trial scheduling hearing, she said they will hold one via teleconference (using Zoom) on Tuesday, July 19.
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