Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover trial set for October 17 in Delaware court

Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick approved a trial schedule for the week of mid-October, according to court documents, along with a Friday deadline for Musk’s team to respond to Twitter’s complaint.

Judge grants Elon Musk October court date in first victory for Twitter

Twitter sued Musk earlier in July, alleging the Tesla and SpaceX CEO broke his agreement to buy the social media site for $44 billion, in a lawsuit that accused Musk of breaking the rules and “d ‘hypocrisy’.

Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share in April, positioning himself as a champion of free speech and pledging to dissociate the site from aggressive moderation tactics he decried as inherently Politics. He also pledged a significant portion of his own wealth to support the deal.

Musk says Twitter offer is pending

Musk also took objective on spambots or fictitious or automated accounts, which he pledged to defeat “or die trying” if his bid was successful.

But his opinion of the deal soured weeks later, as Musk tweeted that the deal was “on hold” pending an assessment of the percentage of fake accounts on the site. The turnaround coincided with investor concerns and economic pressure that weighed heavily on Tesla stock, which is tied to much of Musk’s net worth.

This sparked a public battle as Twitter sought to provide evidence for its estimate that spam and bot accounts made up less than 5% of accounts on the site.

Elon Musk asks to withdraw from the agreement on Twitter

Musk announced on July 8 that he was pulling out of the deal. Twitter filed suit a few days later, sending the case to court in Delaware.

The trial is scheduled to take place over five days and end on October 21.