As micro-blogging site Twitter prepares to sue billionaire Elon Musk for scraping the $44 billion acquisition, a judge on Tuesday ruled in Twitter's favour that a five-day trial should begin in October citing a "cloud of uncertainty" over Twitter, the media has reported. Musk's legal team had opposed Twitter's bid to fast-track its lawsuit to push the billionaire into completing the deal and proposed a trial in February.
According to a report by CNN Business, Twitter's lead counsel William Savitt came out swinging against Musk at the start of the hearing as he argued in favour of a speedy trial. The Twitter counsel said the continued uncertainty hanging over the company from the outstanding deal and litigation "inflicts harm on Twitter everyday, every hour and every day."
Musk's lawyers were angling to push a Delaware Court of Chancery judge to grant them more time and proposed a trial in February and power to gather information about bots on Twitter, said a The New York Post report, citing sources.
A protracted legal battle could also potentially drag down Twitter's stock, thus, giving Musk more leverage to renegotiate the company's sale price. The news comes less than a week after the micro-blogging site sued Musk in Delaware, accusing the billionaire of agreeing to buy the site and then attempting to "trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away".