The move sets the stage for Twitter’s legal battle against the magnate
The tale of Elon Musk’s buyout of Twitter has been a turbulent, troublesome one. What initially seemed like a smooth — albeit controversial — purchase by the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla ended up being the inciting incident of a legal battle stemming from him wanting to bail out of buying the company. As Twitter is gearing up for a court battle to bring this situation to a close, the company’s shareholders have now approved the buyout bid as a preliminary move.
As reported by CNN, most of Twitter’s shareholders have voted to approve the proposed acquisition bid by Elon Musk. Despite the numerous attempts by the magnate to terminate the agreement, Twitter has pushed its shareholders to accept the bid, and as a result, a wide margin of approval was expected. Musk’s pretext for terminating the agreement was based on Twitter reportedly undercounting or hiding stats regarding spam and bots and the declarations put forward by whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, who testified before a United States Senate committee hours before the vote.
Although the acquisition has been approved, that doesn’t mean that Twitter belongs to Musk. Instead, it’ll set the stage for a legal fight between the billionaire and the company he briefly considered buying. After all, Musk is still seeking to terminate the agreement under the arguments he made, while Twitter wants to close the deal regardless and honor the agreement, arguing that Musk’s complaints are just an excuse for backing out of the purchase.
The trial is set to take place in October in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, where each side will argue their version of things and seek an outcome in their favor. For now, the fate of Twitter remains a mystery. It’ll be months before we know if the company will remain publicly traded or if Musk will be forced to close the deal and become its new owner — while also forking up the $44 billion he initially agreed to pay.
