According to multiple press reports, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was relieved on Monday from questioning by Twitter lawyers. The billionaire was to make a statement in his high-stakes court battle with Twitter on whether it has to comply with his agreement to buy the social platform for $44 billion (about Rs 3,37,465 crore).
Instead, Musk’s inquiry was postponed to a future date. Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal, who was due to face Musk’s lawyers on Monday, also postponed his statement, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Musk’s postponement was reported by Bloomberg, Reuters and the Wall Street Journal, all of which attributed the information to anonymous sources.
News of the postponement fueled a brief rally in Twitter shares, which jumped 5.4 per cent to $43.03 (about Rs 3,500), apparently on hopes of a settlement in the matter. That enthusiasm waned later in the day. Twitter shares closed Monday at $41.58 (about Rs 3,300), eight cents higher than their open.
Court watchers said such adjournments are not unusual before a larger pre-trial hearing. Hearings on several important pretrial motions are scheduled for Tuesday.
Both men were expected to answer questions from opposing lawyers ahead of the October trial, which will determine who is to blame, not to mention who is to blame for the seeming downfall of Musk’s Twitter bid. Who has the big money? The trial is scheduled to begin on October 17 in Delaware Chancery Court, where it is scheduled to last just five days.
Musk, the world’s richest man, offered $54.20 (about Rs 4,180) per share in April to buy Twitter and take it private and vowed to loosen the company’s content policing and root out fake accounts. Chasm. In July, he attempted to back away from the deal, making several allegations on Twitter as justification for his action.
Twitter later sued Musk to force it to complete the acquisition.
