Musk’s lawyers, in documents filed in Delaware Chancery Court on Friday, said Twitter’s “unreasonable request” to speed up the merger trial by two months should be denied. It’s the latest move in what promises to be a major legal showdown between Twitter and Musk. The San Francisco-based company is seeking to resolve months of uncertainty about its business as Musk tries to exit the deal over what it says is Twitter’s “spam bot” problem. Twitter sued Musk on Tuesday for breaching an agreement to buy the social media platform, asking a Delaware court to order the world’s richest man to complete the merger at the agreed price of $54.20 per share. The company requested that the test begin in September because the merger agreement with Musk expires on October 25, 2022. “Twitter’s sudden request for warp speed after two months of drifting and obfuscating is its latest tactic to obfuscate the truth about the spam accounts long enough for the defendants to be shut down,” Musk’s filing said. Musk’s lawyers argued that the controversy over fake and spam accounts was fundamental to Twitter’s value and was extremely heavy on data and experts. They said it would take considerable time for discovery and asked for a trial date of February 13 next year or later. The debt financing package committed by the banks to buy Musk expires in April 2023. That means if the test starts in February and isn’t completed by April, the deal could fall apart. Twitter declined to comment on Musk’s latest move. Shares of Twitter fell about 1% in extended trading. On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked Musk to file any material aimed at properly influencing shareholders in his bid to buy Twitter. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s request comes after an issue was flagged in another filing.
