A judge this Thursday postponed the trial opposing the Twitter and Elon Musk, allowing the businessman more time to close the purchase of the social network for 44 billion dollars.
Musk's defense had asked to suspend the upcoming trial in Delaware, where the billionaire was expected to be forced to complete the merger deal reached in April.
This Monday, Tesla's CEO made a new offer for the same amount, but said he needed time to have the financing ready.
Judge Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, chief of the Delaware Court, stressed this Thursday that Musk and Twitter now have until October 28 to close the deal.
The trial originally scheduled for Oct. 17 will take place in November if the parties can't reach an agreement, he added.
Also this Thursday, Twitter had asked McCormick to proceed with the trial, claiming that the billionaire refuses to accept the "contractual obligations" of his April agreement to buy the company and take it private.
Twitter disputed Musk's allegation that the San Francisco-based company was refusing to accept the new offer, made by the entrepreneur earlier this week, to try to end the litigation.
The social network, in turn, considered Musk's request to postpone the trial as "an invitation to further damage and delay" after its arguments to terminate the agreement were not valid.
After the judge's decision, Twitter reaffirmed, in a statement, that it is prepared to terminate the agreement for the amount set in April.
"We expect to close the transaction for $54,20 [per share] by October 28th.“, he stressed, in a reference to the price originally offered by Musk.
Brooklyn Law School professor Andrew Jennings explained that Twitter intends to make sure the deal is done, so as not to give “leeway for Musk to step aside again”.
BUT: Twitter accepts Elon Musk's offer to buy social network
Musk's lawyers argued that Twitter was against postponing the trial "based on the theoretical possibility" that Musk would not get funding, considering this hypothesis "baseless speculation".
The billionaire's legal team added that Musk's backers "have indicated that they are prepared to honor their commitments" and are working to close the deal by October 28.
Alex Spiro, Musk's lawyer, said this Thursday, in a statement, that "Twitter offered Musk a discount of billions in the transaction price", but that the businessman "refused because Twitter tried to put certain conditions in his favor in the wake up".
The lawyer did not detail what those conditions were, and Twitter also did not describe the negotiations beyond what its lawyers said in court.
Shares of Twitter fell $1,91, or 3,7%, to close at $49,39 on Thursday, the second day of the stock's decline, after rising more than 22% on Tuesday following of Musk's renewed offer to buy the company.
