Elon Musk filed a countersuit against Twitter on Friday, intensifying his legal battle against the social media company for trying to block a $44 billion acquisition.
The 164-page document was not immediately available, although a redacted version could soon be made public under court rules.
And a judge in the US state of Delaware said a trial would begin on October 17 and last five days to consider Twitter’s attempt to keep Elon Musk in his deal.
Tesla CEO and SpaceX chairman Musk said he pulled out of the deal on July 8, blaming Twitter for violating the merger agreement by misrepresenting the number of fake accounts on its platform.
Twitter filed a lawsuit a few days later, calling the fake account claims a distraction and asserting that Musk was bound by the merger agreement to close the deal at $54.20 per share. The company’s shares rose 1.4 percent to $41.45 in Friday morning trading.
Delaware District Judge Kathleen McCormick quickly remanded the case last week, saying she wanted to limit potential damage to Twitter from uncertainty over the deal.
Twitter has blamed the court battle for reducing revenue and creating chaos within the company.
The two sides have agreed in principle to a trial on Oct. 17, but disagree on limits on disclosure or access to internal documents and other evidence.
Musk this week accused Twitter of being unwilling to respond to his requests to release the data, and Twitter accused him of seeking large amounts of data unrelated to the main issue of the case, which is whether Musk violated the deal. or not
Source: Lebanon Debate
