Twitter Shareholders Approve Elon Musk’s Takeover Deal Ahead of Upcoming Legal Battle

Twitter shareholders on Tuesday voted in favour of Elon Musk’s deal to acquire the microblogging service for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,49,800 crore) according to a report. The outcome of the shareholder vote, which was announced on Tuesday, comes a month before the upcoming legal battle between the Tesla CEO and Twitter, which will begin on October 17 at the Delaware Chancery Court. Musk agreed to purchase Twitter earlier this year, but attempted to back out of the deal in July.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Twitter shareholders voted to approve Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s deal to purchase the microblogging service. Musk had agreed to purchase Twitter at a price of $54.20 (roughly Rs. 4,300) per share, much higher than Tuesday’s price of $43.20 (roughly Rs. 3,400). The deadline to vote on the deal was Tuesday, and the result clears the way for the world’s richest man to acquire the company.

However, the Tesla CEO has repeatedly stated that he does not want to go ahead with the takeover deal, and has sent multiple letters to Twitter to terminate the deal. The most recent of these communications was last week, when Musk’s lawyers notified Twitter that he was not informed about money paid to a former employee, believed to be whistleblower Peiter Zatko. Twitter has denied the claim that the payment breached the terms of the deal.

Ahead of the trial, which begins on October 17 at the Delaware Chancery Court, Musk has been permitted by the court to include Zatko’s allegations against the company. Twitter’s former security chief has alleged that the firm misled the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about the company’s security measures as part of an agreement in 2011. He has also alleged that Twitter has serious security flaws affecting the platform, and that one or more employees were working on behalf of foreign governments.

Back in July, Musk attempted to back out of the deal to acquire Twitter, claiming that he had been provided incorrect information about the number of spam or fake accounts on the company. The company sued the Tesla CEO in July, calling his exit strategy “a model of hyprocrisy”. Twitter also previously claimed Musk was trying to “slow walk” the trial, which will begin next month.