Elon Musk continued the Twitter takeover saga on Friday filing a countersuit against the social media platform as he fights back against its lawsuit demanding Tesla CEO be held to his $44 billion buyout deal he inked in April.
Although the 164-page lawsuit was filed confidentially, meaning the documents were not accessible by the public, a public version of the filing with trade secrets or other sensitive information redacted was soon made public under court rules.
The Chancery Court in the state of Delaware said in a notice that Musk’s countersuit was submitted along with a legal defense against Twitter’s claim that he’s contractually bound to complete the deal to buy Twitter.
Hours before, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick scheduled a five-day trial beginning on October 17 to determine if Tesla’s CEO can abandon the deal. Pointing out that she wanted to limit the potential harm to Twitter caused by the uncertainty of the deal, McCormick fast-tracked the case to trial last week.
Twitter has previously blamed the court fight for slumping revenue and causing chaos within the company.
Also on Friday, Elon Musk was sued by a Twitter shareholder who argues that the billionaire breached his fiduciary duty to Twitter shareholders, demanding in the lawsuit for Musk to close the deal and asking the court to award damages for losses he caused.
The lawsuit was filed in the Court of Chancery by Luigi Crispo, who owns 5,500 Twitter shares.
According to the lawsuit – which seeks class status – Musk owes a fiduciary duty to Twitter’s shareholders since the takeover agreement gives him a veto of many of the company’s decisions and because of his 9.6 percent stake in the company.
Musk faces another week-long trial in Wilmington, Delaware, beginning on October 24 – this time as Tesla CEO – in which a Tesla shareholder is seeking to void as corporate waste and unjust enrichment the chief executive’s record-breaking $56bn pay package from Tesla.
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