Tesla
CEO Elon Musk lost his fight to delay Twitter’s lawsuit against him as a
Delaware judge on Tuesday set an October trial, citing the “cloud of
uncertainty” over the social media company after the billionaire backed
out of a deal to buy it.

“Delay threatens irreparable harm,” said
Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, the head judge of Delaware’s
Court of Chancery, which handles many high-profile business disputes.
“The longer the delay, the greater the risk.”

Twitter had asked
for an expedited trial in September, while Musk’s team called for
waiting until early next year because of the complexity of the case.
McCormick said Musk’s team underestimated the Delaware court’s ability
to “quickly process complex litigation.”

Also Read: Twitter on Musk deal: ‘slow-walking’ the $44 billion acquisition

Twitter is trying to force the billionaire to make good on his April promise
to buy the social media giant for $44 billion — and the company wants
it to happen quickly because it says the ongoing dispute is harming its
business.

Musk, the world’s richest man, pledged to pay $54.20 a share for Twitter, but informed the company in July that he wants to back out of the agreement.

“It’s
attempted sabotage. He’s doing his best to run Twitter down,” said
attorney William Savitt, representing Twitter before McCormick on
Tuesday. The hearing was held virtually after McCormick said she tested
positive for COVID-19.

Musk has claimed the company has failed to
provide adequate information about the number of fake, or “spam bot,”
Twitter accounts, and that it has breached its obligations under the
deal by firing top managers and laying off a significant number of
employees. Musk’s team expects more information about the bot numbers to
be revealed in the trial court discovery process, when both sides must
hand over evidence.

Twitter argues that Musk’s reasons for backing
out are just a cover for buyer’s remorse after agreeing to pay 38%
above Twitter’s stock price shortly before the stock market stumbled and
shares of the electric-car maker Tesla, where most of Musk’s personal
wealth resides, lost more than $100 billion of their value.

Also Read: What happens if Elon Musk refuses to comply with Delaware court’s order to buy Twitter

Savitt
said the contested merger agreement and Musk’s tweets disparaging the
company were inflicting harm on the business and questioned Musk’s
request for a delayed trial, asking “whether the real plan is to run out
the clock.”

“He’s banking on wriggling out of the deal he signed,” Savitt said.

But
the idea the Tesla CEO is trying to damage Twitter is “preposterous. He
has no interest in damaging the company,” said Musk attorney Andrew
Rossman, noting he is Twitter’s second largest shareholder with a “far
larger stake” than the company’s entire board of directors.

Savitt
emphasized the importance of an expedited trial starting in September
for Twitter to be able to make important business decisions affecting
everything from employee retention to relationships with suppliers and
customers.

Also Read: Elon Musk files motion to block Twitter’s request for fast-track trial

Rossman said more time is needed because it is “one of
the largest take-private deals in history” involving a “company that has
a massive amount of data that has to be analyzed. Billions of actions
on their platform have to be analyzed.”