The court battle between Elon Musk and Twitter officially began today with a win for Twitter. Today’s pre-trial hearing set Musk’s counsel against Twitter’s to answer a relatively simple question: When should the actual trial begin?
Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that the trial should begin in October over a five-day period. Musk’s counsel attempted to argue that expediting the trial would be detrimental to Musk’s case and asked for a trial date to be set in February 2023.
The win for Twitter is in some ways a win for us, too, as we’ll only need to wait a few months to watch the battle royale go down. It’ll also give Musk’s team far less time to think up excuses for worming out of the $44 billion buyout.
Twitter: 1, Musk: 0 —
Today’s pre-trial hearing gave us a little taste of how each side’s legal counsel plans to approach the case. Musk’s lawyer took to the exact playbook Musk has been using for months now, which is to say he focused on the number of fake accounts present on Twitter at any given time. October, he argued, is far too soon to actually analyze the “fire hose” of data provided by Twitter. (Why this process should take so long, when Musk is already so certain Twitter’s numbers are incorrect, is unclear.)
Twitter’s argument proved to be more convincing. The company’s lawyers successfully argued that an expedited trial was important to Twitter’s integrity; the longer the show goes on, the more likely it is the company will lose money and users. He also pointed out that a February trial would allow Musk to let his debt financing deals expire.
“The longer the merger transaction remains in limbo, the larger a cloud of uncertainty is cast over the company,” McCormick said in her decision.
Grab the popcorn —
That’s all the courtroom spectacle we’ll be privy to until October, but we’d bet good money there will be plenty of Musk drama to keep up on in the meantime. The man is physically incapable of existing without stirring something up.
Musk and Twitter are both taking major financial hits as a result of Musk’s games. Musk, still the world’s richest man, continues to spend his days tweeting very annoying memes.
