Twitter-Musk Legal Fight Officially Ends as Judge Dismisses Suit

Twitter Inc.’s four-month court battle with new owner Elon Musk is officially over, after one of the most contentious merger fights in US history.

Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick on Tuesday dismissed the lawsuit Twitter filed in July after Musk sought to pull out of the $44 billion acquisition. He later changed his mind, and completed the purchase last month.

At the request of both Twitter and Musk, McCormick dismissed “any and all claims and counterclaims” over the billionaire entrepreneur’s bid to walk away from his $54.20-per-share bid.

Musk has faced a rocky transition as the social-media platform’s owner since agreeing Oct. 4 to complete the transaction on its original terms. He’s slashed the workforce, changed policies and been confronted with an advertising slump, prompting him to say bankruptcy was a possibility if the company didn’t start generating more cash.

During his bid to exit the takeover deal, Musk had claimed Twitter officials misled him about bot and spam accounts among its more than 230 million users and that justified the cancellation.

Musk is back in the same Delaware court this week for a separate legal fight: He’s facing claims by a Tesla Inc. investor that he steamrolled directors into giving him a lavish pay package worth as much as $55 billion.

The Twitter case was Twitter v. Musk, 22-0613, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington). The Tesla case is Tornetta v. Musk, 2018-0408.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware at jfeeley@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Katia Porzecanski at kporzecansk1@bloomberg.net

Steve Stroth

© 2022 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.