Twitter’s fallout with Elon Musk became more heated last night after it accused the billionaire of ‘attempted sabotage’, having pulled the plug on his £37billion takeover bid.
In a war of words, lawyers for the San Francisco-based social media giant told a US court to fast-track its trial against Musk to September and said the takeover uncertainty is harming the platform ‘every hour of every day’.
But lawyers for Musk, who said the social media giant is seeking a ‘warp speed’ trial, called for the courtroom showdown to take place next February.
Legal battle: Twitter’s lawyers told a US court to fast-track its trial against Elon Musk (pictured) to September and said the uncertainty is harming the platform ‘every hour of every day’
Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Court of Chancery in Delaware largely granted Twitter’s wish as she set a five-day trial in October.
The 51-year-old Tesla boss has made no secret of his criticism of Twitter, firing off tweets bashing the platform’s restrictions on free speech and failure to clamp down on fake accounts.
Earlier this month Musk said he no longer wanted to buy Twitter, claiming the firm had failed to uphold its side of the merger agreement by not disclosing enough information on fake accounts.
But the platform is suing him to force him to complete the deal.
Twitter lawyer Bill Savitt of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, said: ‘It’s attempted sabotage. He is doing his best to run Twitter down.
He’s doing his best to create jeopardy for Twitter, is doing his best to create exposure for Twitter, and he’s doing that as a way to try and get out of the contract he promised to consummate.’
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