Judge Grants Elon Musk’s Request to Delay Trial With Twitter

A corporate representative for one of the banks testified on Thursday that Mr. Musk had not communicated to the bank that he planned to close the transaction, Twitter said in a legal filing. The filing did not identify the banking official or indicate where the official testified. Twitter has accused Mr. Musk in its lawsuit of not making reasonable efforts to secure the debt financing, which would put him in breach of their contract.

The remaining funds for the $44 billion deal are set to come from Mr. Musk’s personal wealth and equity investors. Mr. Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, has sold about $15.5 billion in the electric carmaker stock to amass the cash needed to buy Twitter.

In the spring, he said he had raised $7.1 billion from equity investors, including the top venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, and his personal confidants, including the tech mogul Larry Ellison.

It is unclear whether the terms of their agreement allow them to back out given the changed circumstances. Representatives of Andreessen Horowitz and Oracle, the company that Mr. Ellison leads, did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokeswoman for Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange that committed $500 million, said nothing had changed about the company’s plans to participate in the deal.

The deal-making continues under the shadow of Twitter’s lawsuit, which could proceed in November if a deal is not reached. If a trial occurs, the incendiary showdown in the Delaware Court of Chancery, which specializes in managing deal disputes, could feature testimony from Mr. Musk and top Twitter executives.

A deposition scheduled for Thursday with Mr. Musk was canceled as negotiations continued, two people familiar with the matter said. It has been rescheduled for Monday, a person with knowledge of the plans said, although Mr. Musk’s on-the-record sit-down has been rescheduled twice and could be moved again because of the trial postponement.

Katie Benner and Michael S. Schmidt contributed reporting.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/technology/elon-musk-twitter-trial.html