Elon Musk.
Andrew Kelly/Reuters
An upcoming trial between Musk and Twitter is officially on hold.
The judge overseeing the case said the coming weeks should give them time to agree on a settlement.
If not, a trial will be scheduled for sometime in November.
Elon Musk won his push to pause Twitter‘s lawsuit against him. For now.
The judge overseeing the case in Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday agreed to halt proceedings in the case until October 28, to give Musk and Twitter time to settle their ongoing differences and “permit the parties to close on the transaction.” Should they not be able to come to a settlement, the judge said a trial will take place sometime in November.
Musk earlier in the day sought a more indefinite delay of the trial. His lawyers argued a trial was “moot” given Musk’s renewed offer to acquire Twitter for an originally agreed upon $44 billion and would only serve as a distraction to closing the deal. The billionaire late Monday made an abrupt u-turn on his decision to abandon the $44 billion deal in a brief letter sent to Twitter.
Twitter quickly opposed Musk’s position for delay, calling it “an invitation to further mischief and delay.” It’s lawyers held that, should Musk actually want to close this deal as proposed, he can do it much more quickly than his offered timeline of Oct. 28. It is now pushing for him to close the transaction by Oct. 10.