Twitter v Musk Lawsuit On Hold, Tesla Exec Has Until Oct. 28 to Close Deal

It seems Elon Musk has gotten his wish for the Twitter v Musk lawsuit against him to be stayed. A Delaware judge on Thursday ordered a halt to Twitter’s lawsuit against Musk, less than two weeks before the case was set to go to trial. Under the judge’s order, the billionaire has until Oct. 28 to close the deal and purchase Twitter.

Elon Musk Given Until Month’s End to Close Twitter Purchase Deal

Previously, the Tesla exec had backed out of his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter. He cited a large number of bot accounts on the social network, one that didn’t correspond with Twitter’s own estimates of the percentage of fake accounts. For its part, Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk in the Delaware Chancery Court for reneging on the deal.

After several months of back-and-forth, Musk revealed Tuesday his wish to resume the purchase. He insisted on closing the deal at the originally-offered price of $54.20 per share. He also said he would only work to close the deal if the court stayed the litigation process in the Twitter v Musk lawsuit until he finishes raising the funds.

It would appear the Delaware judge finally agreed to this, just before Twitter’s lawyers were scheduled to start deposing Musk in preparation for trial. According to Reuters, the judge wrote in her order that she would schedule a trial for November, should Musk fail to close the deal by 5 p.m. Eastern on Oct. 28.

Twitter Anticipating Completion of the Sale, Or Twitter v Musk Goes to Trial

In a statement Thursday, Twitter said it is “looking forward to closing the transaction at $54.20 by Oct. 28th.” In an earlier court filing, the company asked the judge to reject Musk’s proposal. Twitter feared Musk was only stalling, and called the Tesla chief executive’s plan “an invitation to further mischief and delay.”

Originally, Twitter and Musk were scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 17. The Thursday deposition, however, both sides agreed to postpone before the judge issued the order halting proceedings.