Elon Musk Seeks to Stop Twitter Trial, Says Company Won’t ‘Take Yes for an Answer’

Elon Musk attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala in New York on May 2, 2022,. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File

Lawyers for Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Thursday asked a Delaware court to halt a trial later this month and suggested Twitter is refusing his new $44 billion offer to purchase the social media company.

His lawyers filed a motion to stay the proceedings and remove the trial from Delaware’s Court of Chancery’s calendar that was scheduled to start on Oct. 17.

“Twitter will not take yes for an answer,” the filing said (pdf). “Astonishingly, they have insisted on proceeding with this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders’ interests.”

Earlier this week, Musk confirmed his intention to purchase Twitter for $54.20 per share, or $44 billion, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The San Francisco-based social media firm later confirmed in a statement that it received the letter.

But in the new filing Thursday, Musk’s lawyers alleged that Twitter has not set aside its litigation and would “impede the deal moving forward.”

“Instead of allowing the parties to turn their focus to securing the Debt Financing necessary to consummate the transaction and preparing for a transition of the business, the parties will instead remain distracted by completing discovery and an unnecessary trial,” his attorneys wrote.

On Wednesday, the judge presiding over the case wrote that she will continue the plan to hold the trial later this month.

Musk’s lawyers added that “proceeding toward trial is not only an enormous waste of party and judicial resources,” but “it will undermine the ability of the parties to close the transaction.”

“By far the most likely possibility is that the debt is funded in which case the deal will close on or around October 28,” they wrote, adding that “counsel for the debt financing parties has advised that each of their clients is prepared to honor its obligations under the Bank Debt Commitment Letter on the terms and subject to satisfaction of the conditions set forth therein.”

Funding

Bank of America and Morgan Stanley were among the financial institutions that initially agreed to provide $12.5 billion in debt for Musk, according to CNBC.

Earlier this week, Twitter wrote that it has “received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC,” and the “intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share.” The company, however, did not indicate whether it will end its lawsuit against Musk.

Meanwhile, Twitter’s shares dropped further from the Telsa CEO’s offering price on Thursday, down to $51.12. That came after shares rose 20 percent since Musk this week proposed to go ahead with the acquisition.

“There’s still some uncertainty based on whether or not Elon can find the actual financing to do the deal,” Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives for the Schwab Center, told Reuters.

Robert Gilliland, managing director at Concenture Wealth Management, told the outlet that the deal’s “financing will eventually end up going through one way or another” and that “it is just a point of negotiating terms at this stage.”

As for Musk, he wrote on the social media platform that he envisions Twitter becoming a stepping stone to his mysterious “X” system.

“Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app,” he wrote on Oct. 4. He did not elaborate.

Previously, Musk has been highly critical of Twitter’s rules and content moderation policies, saying they often favor left-wing viewpoints and users.

The Epoch Times has contacted Twitter for comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.