Twitter shareholders have reportedly voted to accept Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover of the social network, just weeks ahead of a trial over Musk's attempt to exit the merger deal.
Yesterday’s vote was the last remaining approval Twitter needed for the Musk deal, but the bigger question is what will happen at the upcoming trial at Delaware Court of Chancery.
While a specific vote tally has not been made publicly available, several news reports claim that investors have backed the Twitter board's recommendation to approve the deal that Musk agreed to in April before changing his mind.
The shareholder meeting “lasted 7 minutes, with polls open for about 3 minutes," according to Bloomberg, and shareholders could also submit votes for several weeks ahead of the meeting." Twitter sued Musk to force him to complete the deal, and a trial is scheduled to begin on October 17.
Bot battle and trial delays
Musk who already already owns about 9.2% of Twitter stock, has tried to exit the merger by claiming Twitter misrepresented the number of fake accounts on its service.
The billionaire Tesla and Space X CEO has lost some key rulings in the pre-trial phase. After his attempt to delay the trial until February 2023 was rejected, last week Judge Kathaleen McCormick also disapproved Musk's newer motion for a four-week delay, ruling that "even four weeks' delay would risk further harm to Twitter too great to justify."
McCormick last week also chastised Musk for failing to provide documents sought by Twitter, writing that "Musk's own production of text messages revealed glaring deficiencies."
The judge ordered Musk to produce more documents, noting that Twitter "has borne the bulk of the burden of discovery" while "Defendants had less to do but still fell short in their obligations."
A sample of Musk’s texts (that have been disclosed) reveal his concerns over the Russia-Ukraine war affecting his purchase of Twitter back in April.
Elon Musk texts his banker, Michael Grimes
— Internal Tech Emails (@TechEmails) September 13, 2022
May 8, 2022 pic.twitter.com/GfCFNVqKuP
A Twitter filing made public this week claims that gaps in Musk's production of text messages "are notable because they correspond precisely to the period when Musk apparently developed buyer's remorse and set into action his scheme to escape the merger agreement."
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