Elon Musk-Twitter Trial to Start Oct. 17

From CNET: Twitter and billionaire Elon Musk will go to trial from Oct. 17 to 21, a Delaware Chancery Court schedule confirmed Friday, over the Tesla CEO's attempt to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy the company.

The official schedule comes a week after Twitter partially blamed a revenue shortfall on "uncertainty" linked to Musk's rocky takeover bid and 10 days after a July 19 court hearing on the matter.

At the July 19 hearing, Twitter's lawyers asked for trial in September while Musk's lawyers pushed for the trial to start in late February. At the hearing, Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, the court's chief judge, set the trial for October but didn't specify an exact date.

Though neither Twitter nor Musk got exactly what they wanted, the shorter timeline that the judge suggested is still a win for the social media company, after its lawyers raised concerns about the potential harm that comes from Musk's efforts to "bully his way" out of the deal.

In her remarks, McCormick said that the longer a merger transaction remains in limbo, the greater the risk of irreparable harm. She also noted that Musk's lawyers seem to underestimate the ability of the court to quickly process complex litigation.

The July 19 hearing marked the first time that Musk's and Twitter's legal teams faced off in court.

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