Judge grants Twitter a summary judgment to decide the fate of the $44 billion deal with Elon Musk
Social media platform wins early victory in battle to complete billionaire takeover
Gabriel ThomasOctober 1, 2026
Twitter has won an early victory in its legal battle to force Elon Musk to complete its $44 billion takeover after a judge sided with the social media company and set a timeline for a summary trial beginning in October .
In her decision, Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery warned that the "cloud of uncertainty" hanging over Twitter's deal would only increase if there was a long wait before the trial.
"The reality is that the delay is causing irreparable harm to sellers," McCormick said, ordering a five-day hearing and adding that the court was able to expedite the process.
During the hearing, Twitter's lawyers accused the billionaire Tesla CEO of "attempting to sabotage" the social media company and said a quick, four-day trial was needed to prevent further damage to the company.
Lawyers for the social platform said the uncertainty about the deal hurts Twitter "every hour of every day" and urged the judge to start the trial in mid-September.
Though the trial will start a little later and last a day longer than Twitter requested, the judge's decision comes far closer to the social media platform's request than Musk's. His lawyers had argued that the trial shouldn't begin before 2023, calling Twitter's proposed timeline "absurd".
After the verdict, Twitter said: "We are pleased that the court has agreed to expedite the proceedings". A representative from Musk's legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On July 8, Musk announced he was exiting the purchase of Twitter for $54.20 per share. He claimed the company violated the merger agreement by not sharing enough information about fake accounts and misleading regulators on the matter.
Twitter is suing Musk to force him to complete the acquisition. The company accuses it of repeatedly violating the merger agreement and trying to withdraw its bid because tech shares have fallen since the deal was inked in April.
In the first legal battle between the Silicon Valley company and the world's richest man on Tuesday, the social media giant argued that Musk is harming the company by driving it online and disrupting operations, such as refusing to to give the green light to its employee retention plans.
"This is attempted sabotage," said Bill Savitt of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a Twitter attorney, during the hearing. "He's doing his best to bring Twitter down. He's doing his best to put Twitter in jeopardy, he's doing his best to discredit Twitter, and he's doing it to try and get out of the contract , which he promised to fulfill."
Savitt also argued that the process should be expedited to allow sufficient time for a judgment to be enforced before the funding agreements with the banks expire in April 2023.
Musk's team had suggested a trial start in February at the earliest. Andrew Rossman of the law firm Quinn Emanuel, who is representing Musk, argued that the debate over Twitter's fake accounts warrants a longer investigation because of the "huge amount of data" and "billions of actions on the platform" to be analyzed.
Rossman said that Twitter only made its allegations that Musk violated the merger agreement after Musk requested that the agreement be terminated, adding, "You can't ask the court for help and then show up and expect that the process will be expedited."
He also accused Twitter of fooling Musk's teams when they asked for more information about fake accounts, saying that Musk had no interest in harming the company because, as the second-largest shareholder, he had a "far larger economic... interest" than the Twitter board itself.
Analysts have speculated that Musk may have had pangs of conscience over the slide in tech stocks since agreeing to buy the company for $54.20 in April. The company's share price is now at $39.07. The two parties could potentially renegotiate a deal at a lower price or agree on a settlement.
