Twitter Inc. wants a lightning-quick trial to determine its allegation that billionaire Elon Musk improperly terminated his planned $44 billion takeover of the social-media platform. Twitter believes that Musk acted improperly when he made these decisions.
The attorneys for the firm headquartered in San Francisco claim that they only need four days in the Delaware Chancery Court to establish that the wealthiest person in the world should be compelled to respect his commitment and pay $54.20 per share for Twitter. The non-jury trial is scheduled to begin for the corporation on September 19th, if everything goes according to plan. However, legal professionals estimate that the trial will take around two weeks to complete.
The proceedings in Delaware Chancery Court tend to be completed more quickly than in other jurisdictions, where getting a matter to trial might often take several years. Chancery judges are corporate law specialists who are noted for their ability to cut through the legal tangles of difficult merger and acquisition conflicts more swiftly and comprehensively than other US courts. This ability has earned them a well-deserved reputation as leaders in their field. Even the most complicated issues involving businesses are often debated in front of a court within six or seven months of the lawsuit being filed.
According to the terms of the purchase agreement for Twitter, any and all legal challenges over the transaction must be handled in the state of Delaware. Delaware is the corporate home to more than half of the public firms in the United States, including Twitter and Musk’s Tesla Inc.
On Tuesday, emails sent to Musk and his attorneys requesting comment on the claim and whether or not the case may be conducted on Twitter’s timetable were not immediately returned. On Tuesday, Musk did send out a tweet, in which he said, “Oh the irony haha.”
Despite the fact that a judge has not been appointed to the case as yet, Chief Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick has already begun hearing investor lawsuits about the shaky acquisition. It is possible that she will follow Twitter’s suit as well. McCormick, who was born and raised in Delaware and attended Notre Dame Law School, worked as a legal assistance attorney in the past.
According to the legal team representing Twitter, the company can easily demonstrate in less than a week’s time in court that Musk did not have valid reasons to reject the $54.20-per-share buyout offer. At 3:01 p.m. on Wednesday, the price of a share of Twitter was $36.83, up 8.1% from the previous close.
According to what the attorneys have written, “Litigation on the timetable Twitter offers provides the parties and their experienced counsel adequate time to build a trial record.” Twitter has proposed this timeline.
According to the attorneys, this would be sufficient time for a judge to make a decision and for the Delaware Supreme Court to review the judgement before the deal is scheduled to be finalised on October 24.
Do not place your bets on it, according to Charles Elson, who served as the previous chairman of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware before retiring as a professor of finance there.
Elson said on Wednesday, during an interview, “I’d say a four-day trial is far more than optimistic.” “There’s been a lot of water under the bridge on this transaction, and I’d estimate it’s going to take more like ten days to test it,” said the narrator.
Musk went to Delaware for a trial over his more than two billion dollar acquisition of the renewable-power provider SolarCity, which was a firm he started with his cousins. This case lasted for ten days in court. After much deliberation, a court came to the conclusion that Musk did not coerce his fellow Tesla directors into agreeing to an overvalued purchase of SolarCity.