Judge halts Twitter lawsuit against Elon Musk, gives time till Oct 28 for buyout

In a bid to give Elon Musk more time to close his $44 billion deal with Twitter Inc, a US judge on Friday halted the court case against the world’s richest man till October 28.

‘Both parties are being given time until 5 pm on Oct. 28 to complete the deal. If the transaction isn’t done by that time, the judge will set trial dates in November,’ an order by Delaware Chancery Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick said.

In Elon Musk’s latest filing, the billionaire’s lawyers said they were aiming for an October 28 closing date – following which the judge’s decision came in on Friday. Musk, chief executive of electric carmaker Tesla Inc, was scheduled to go to trial on October 17 and his Thursday deposition was postponed by mutual agreement.

While Musk’s lawyers say that ‘a short pause’ would not harm Twitter, the social media giant says it is dubious of the billionaire’s promises. In a court filing on Thursday, Elon Musk said that the banks are ‘working cooperatively to fund the deal’, but he needed more time.

However, Twitter informed the news agencies that a banker involved in the debt financing testified earlier Thursday that Musk is yet to send them a borrowing notice, and he has not communicated his intent to close the deal to them.

The two parties had been gearing up for the week-long courtroom battle, which would have determined whether Elon Musk had legitimate grounds to terminate the buyout because of ‘fake/bot user’ accounts.