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A judge has delayed a looming trial between Twitter and Elon Musk, giving the Tesla CEO more time to close his $44 billion deal to buy the company after months spent fighting to get out of it. The litigation was halted until October 28 at 5 p.m. EDT to allow Musk, who is chief executive of electric car maker Tesla Inc, to finance the deal.
Judge Kathaleen McCormick said if the deal did not close by her deadline the parties were to contact her to schedule a November trial. Musk was scheduled to go to trial on October 17 and his Thursday deposition was postponed by mutual agreement.
Musk said earlier this week he would buy Twitter for $54.20 per share, the price that was agreed upon in April, but included a condition that the closing of the deal be contingent on debt financing for the transaction coming through.
Here is a timeline of the Twitter Elon Musk saga, and the key events that happened so far:
April 4: Elon Musk discloses 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter to become the largest individual shareholder in the company
April 5: Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announces that Elon Musk would join Twitter’s board
April 9: Elon Musk tells Twitter that he would not accept the offer to join its board and would instead make the company private
April 10: Twitter CEO announces Musk would not be joining the social media firm’s board
April 12: A group of Twitter shareholders sues the Tesla CEO in a federal securities class action lawsuit because Musk failed to disclose his 5 per cent stake in Twitter when he was required to do so
April 14: Elon Musk makes an offer to buy the whole company, Twitter, at $54.20 per share at $43 billion
April 15: Twitter’s board turns toward the defense everyone anticipated, and adopts a ‘poison pill’ to protect its share gains
April 21: Musk lines up $46.5 billion in financing for the deal. This comprises $21 billion in personal equity and $25.5 billion in loans
April 25: Twitter’s board meets to discuss Musk’s offer and accepts his offer to buy shares at $44 billion
May 4: Elon Musk says he has got funding worth $7 billion from Sequoia, Binance, a16z, Larry Ellison, and others, and revises his Twitter bid by increasing his equity commitment
May 12: Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal fires two top executives including Kayvon Beykpour and Bruce Falck, while also announcing a hiring freeze and other cost cutting measures
May 14: In a surprise move, Musk says the Twitter deal is “temporarily on hold” over Twitter’s fake account claim
May 16: Musk further says lowering the price of the deal was “not out of question”
May 17: Musk gives ultimatum to Twitter over proof of fake accounts, saying the deal “cannot move forward”
May 25: Twitter investors vote against re-electing Elon Musk ally to board. Musk pledges more equity to fund deal, scraps margin loan
May 26: Musk sued by Twitter investors for stock ‘manipulation’ during takeover bid
May 27: US SEC says it was looking into Elon Musk’s purchases of Twitter stock, and if he was properly disclosing his stake
June 6: Musk alleges Twitter was “actively resisting and thwarting” his rights to information over bot accounts, and threatens to walk away from deal
June 16: Elon Musk meets Twitter employees virtually at a town hall meeting, and answers several questions on layoffs, company future and others
July 7: Twitter lays off 30 per cent of its talent acquisition arm
July 8: Elon Musk says in an SEC filing that he was dropping the Twitter deal for not disclosing data. Twitter says it will go the legal way to close the deal.
July 12: Twitter sues Musk
September 29: Texts reveal Musk’s inner circle
A treasure trove of private text messages released as part of the lawsuit slated to go to trial in Delaware Chancery Court on Oct. 17 showed how the deal came together.
October 4: Musk revives $44 billion takeover bid
Elon Musk revives his bid for Twitter at the original offer price of $54.20 a share, potentially avoiding a courtroom fight over one of the most contentious acquisitions in recent history. Shares in Twitter climbed as much as 23% when they resumed trading following a halt on the news.
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