A Delaware court has granted Twitter's request to expedite its ongoing lawsuit against Elon Musk after the billionaire and CEO of Tesla withdrew his offer to buy the company earlier this month, The Verge reports.
In April, Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion, which the company accepted that same month. Though as the months progressed, it seemed uncertain that Musk would go through with the deal as he claimed that Twitter had too many bots. Even before Elon rescinded his offer to buy Twitter, The Washington Post reported that the buyout was in "serious jeopardy," noting that Musk and his team cast doubt on Twitter about the number of spam accounts registered on the platform.
After Musk terminated the agreement, Twitter chairman Bret Taylor wrote, "[t]he Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement."
During today's oral arguments, Twitter's legal counsel claimed that Musk's conduct was "inexcusable." As CNBC notes, Musk's legal team argued before the court that Twitter wants "to continue to shroud in secrecy," referencing how the company was giving the Tesla CEO the runaround when it came to providing data regarding the number of bot accounts on the platform.
Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick ordered the trial to start in October and will last five days, though the exact dates have yet to be scheduled. Twitter originally wanted the trial to start in September of this year, while Musk wanted the trial to begin in February 2023.
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Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.