Judge stays Twitter suit of Musk as he seeks to complete original purchase

A judge has granted Tesla founder Elon Musk's bid to stay a suit from social media giant Twitter as he seeks to complete his original purchase of the platform.

Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen McCormick, who is overseeing the case, granted Musk temporary relief from the company's bid to force him to complete his purchase while he attempts to do exactly that, per Deadline.

"This action is stayed until 5 p.m. on October 28, 2022, to permit the parties to close on the transaction," McCormick wrote. "If the transaction does not close by 5 p.m. on October 28, 2022, the parties are instructed to contact me by email that evening to obtain November 2022 trial dates."

The court decision comes as Musk reportedly faces obstacles to securing enough capital to follow through on his surprise offer to complete the purchase at the original sum of $44 billion. He reportedly does not wish to sell any more Tesla stock to finance the deal, though some estimates suggest he may need to secure at least $19 billion via other means to make up the difference between the sale price and the combined financing he has already secured plus his originally planned out of pocket contribution.

Musk announced in late April that he had negotiated a deal to purchase Twitter for $44 billion but ultimately backed out of the deal ostensibly over the prevalence of bot accounts on the app, prompting the company to sue him to complete the purchase. He then made an unexpected about face and offered to honor the terms of the original agreement.