Filing: a judge grants Elon Musk's request to halt the Twitter trial and says that if the deal doesn't close by 5pm on October 28, the trial begins in November

The pending trial between Elon Musk and Twitter is suddenly on hold, as Judge Kathaleen McCormick granted the Musk side's request for a stay …

The Verge 2022-10-07 Richard Lawler

Context & Ripple Effects

The court had already put Twitter’s suit on an accelerated track with an expedited October trial, rejecting Musk’s preference for a 2023 timetable. As recently as late September, the parties were still arranging Musk’s deposition ahead of trial.

The stay replaces that immediate litigation schedule with a deal-closing deadline while preserving a November trial as the consequence of non-closing. It matters because the court has shifted from forcing a rapid merits hearing to enforcing a narrowly bounded path to completion.

First-order effects

Twitter and Musk pause preparation for the scheduled October trial while they work toward closing by 5pm on October 28.
Musk avoids the imminent trial, but the November restart date retains judicial pressure to complete the transaction on the stated timetable.

Second-order effects

Twitter’s litigation leverage now centers on the deadline: failure to close returns the dispute to court rather than reopening the earlier fight over trial timing.
The parties’ legal and deal teams can redirect effort from depositions and trial presentation to the closing process, with a defined litigation fallback if that process breaks down.

Third-order effects

The ruling illustrates how an expedited Delaware schedule can move an acquisition dispute from contested litigation toward a time-limited closing process, without abandoning the court’s ability to resume the case.
For contested deal litigation, a stay tied to a firm closing condition can become a mechanism for preserving enforcement pressure while giving parties room to consummate an agreement.

The trend: Expedited acquisition litigation is increasingly functioning as a structured deadline for closing, with courts retaining a rapid trial path when the transaction does not complete.

Discussion

@chancery_daily @chancery_daily on x
ok, we got Musk's motion to stay (not a joint proposed stipulation, mind you) pdf: https://s3.documentcloud.org/ ... 1/ https://twitter.com/...
@scottnover Scott Nover on x
Twitter called Musk's offer “an invitation to further mischief and delay.” What a filing this one is! https://twitter.com/...
@chancery_daily @chancery_daily on x
I'm just moderately speechless at this languaging. RECKLESSLY PUTTING THE DEAL AT RISK Y'ALL who has been doing what now also, this is why deal team is not litigation counsel 5/ https://twitter.com/...
@chancery_daily @chancery_daily on x
“effectively mooted the action” is big talk 2/ https://twitter.com/...
@chancery_daily @chancery_daily on x
sorry, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor, I'm back now. “by far the most likely” also, Your Honor, don't you love shareholders? you don't want shareholders to get their money soon? is ... quite a take from someone who has been doing what for the past how many months? 7/ https…
@chancery_daily @chancery_daily on x
“Defendants have agreed to do exactly that.” citation: Merger Agreement, dated April 25, 2022 and how is that working out, ya know, like, rn? “no significant current impact” ROTFL y'all c'mon stahppp you're killing me 4/ https://twitter.com/...
@chancery_daily @chancery_daily on x
the real question facing me here is whether or not it is possible for me to write this tweet without using the words “funding secured” oop guess not 9/ https://twitter.com/...
@chancery_daily @chancery_daily on x
ok, now I feel like someone just has beef with the fact that it's the Delaware Court of Chancery, also, “Twitter responded” makes me both 1) wonder if there's more than the tweet and 2) think there's only the tweet, but wonder if there was also an 8-k that I missed w/it 11/ https…
@chancery_daily @chancery_daily on x
the question in the back of my mind is: “remind me, why would we remove the trial from the schedule again? it seems to be serving its intended purpose atm quite well tbh” but let's continue and see if it gets answered 3/ https://twitter.com/...
@chancery_daily @chancery_daily on x
wow. there's part of me that just has to respect the cojones it takes to say this with a straight face. like, you're not WRONG, Walter, you're just... 6/ https://twitter.com/...
@mmasnick Mike Masnick on x
It seems unwise for Musk to still be playing games. But he appears to be doing exactly that. https://twitter.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
reporters: hope you booked refundable travel for Delaware next week https://twitter.com/...
@chancery_daily @chancery_daily on x
the sheer audacity to call on the principle of “not wasting ppl's [not to mention the COURT'S] time or money” here is breathtaking also how or why would the deal and litigation counsel be the same they are just not and def on twitter this am, seems like he's not super busy 23/ ht…
@gartenberg Michael Gartenberg on x
@reckless Hilarious for the rest of us I imagine not so much if you're a Twitter employee right now. The whole thing is taken the term theater of the absurd to a whole new level
@sarahfrier Sarah Frier on x
Sticking point in the negotiations between Musk and Twitter, per sources. Musk wants to add a line that it's contingent on financing. But the original deal had no such contingency: https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@malwaretechblog Marcus Hutchins on x
I speculated yesterday that Elon's plan may be to re-accept the original deal then sabotage the financing so it falls through. A lawyer told me the way the deal is worded it wouldn't work. Today he is trying to add a contingency that would make it work lol https://www.bloomberg.c…
@niubi Bill Bishop on x
Twitter board would be nuts to agree to this https://twitter.com/...
@pwnallthethings @pwnallthethings on x
“I am not trying to get out of the deal, I will totally close the deal on the original terms contingent on a thing I can arrange to fail” https://twitter.com/...
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
Not sure what's “Breaking” here, but: This is a chicken/egg issue. Elon says he'll close, so long as debt financing arrives. Lenders will fund it, so long as deal is closing. Twitter doesn't trust Elon, so it wants him to make new legal promises that he'll close. https://twitter.…
@edbott Ed Bott on x
“Hi, I would like to use this Get Out Of Deal Free card.” LOL https://twitter.com/...
@montana_skeptic @montana_skeptic on x
Excuse me, @business. $TWTR & Musk reached a “final agreement” back in April. More accurately: “Elon Musk continues struggling to evade his contractual obligations that he loudly & proudly undertook.” https://twitter.com/...
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
And voila — I think they might take yes for an answer if they trusted him. They don't and have no cause to. https://twitter.com/...
@nash076 @nash076 on x
There it is. There's the poison pill. In order to complete the buyout, the board of directors of Twitter essentially have to agree to be sued for fraud. https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@davidgura David Gura on x
These are the banks who fully underwrote the debt portion of the financing: Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Barclays, MUFG, BNP Paribas, Mizuho, and Société Générale. https://twitter.com/...
@matt_levine Matt Levine on x
it's gonna be so good when musk continues to sue twitter once he owns it https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@martinsfp @martinsfp on x
Sounds like a really good faith, happy ending is on the way for this deal 🤔 https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@strngwys Roberto Baldwin on x
The year, 2054 The great water wars have destroyed civilization and Elon Musk is still, maybe, gonna buy twitter https://twitter.com/...
@sawyermerritt Sawyer Merritt on x
NEWS: Talks between Elon Musk and Twitter to reach a resolution of the $44 billion takeover are stuck in part over Musk's statement that his offer is now contingent on receiving $13 billion in debt financing - Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@johnpaczkowski John Paczkowski on x
hope comedy central options this one instead of netflix https://twitter.com/...
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
Don't cancel those Delaware hotel rooms just yet https://twitter.com/...
@dougjballoon @dougjballoon on x
Musk-Twitter peace deal: - Twitter poll on Musk purchase. Musk leaves if that is will of the people. - Truth Social formally part of Tesla. - Continued Musk shitposting on site assured. - Twitter remains neutral.
@carlquintanilla Carl Quintanilla on x
MUSK: “I'm not doing $TWTR for the money. .. But I think it's important that people have a .. trusted and inclusive means of exchanging ideas.” Alternatives like Truth Social are “a rightwing echo chamber. It might as well be called Trumpet.” @FT https://www.ft.com/...
@stevekovach Steve Kovach on x
Do Musk's financial backers know he's not doing it for the money? https://twitter.com/...
@felschwartz Felicia Schwartz on x
In his lunch with the @FT @khalafroula, @elonmusk also has a Taiwan peace plan “A special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable...I think probably, in fact, that they could have an arrangement that's more lenient than Hong Kong.” https://www.ft.com/...
@robinwigg Robin Wigglesworth on x
Is Musk's political flirtations and acquisition of Twitter basically all because he fell out with one of his daughters? https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@benjaminbland Ben Bland on x
Among other galactic problems he tries to solve in @FT lunch w/@khalafroula, Elon Musk reckons future Taiwan crisis can be averted by creation of “special administrative zone for Taiwan” - because One Country Two Systems worked so well in Hong Kong... https://www.ft.com/...
@anupkaphle Anup Kaphle on x
Elon Musk doesn't eat lunch. So he had dinner with the FT. https://www.ft.com/...
@mattzeitlin Matthew Zeitlin on x
who among us... https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@henryjfoy Henry Foy on x
Musk could be a magician, but he could also be wrong. @elonmusk and @khalafroula have Lunch with the @FT https://www.ft.com/...
@adrianhon Adrian Hon on x
He's almost there https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
Musk on Truth Social: “It is essentially a rightwing echo chamber. It might as well be called Trumpet.” https://www.ft.com/...

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