Elon Musk-Twitter spat: Tesla CEO asks judge to begin trial on October 17

A court filing has revealed that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has asked a judge to postpone the five-day trial with Twitter by a week.

While Twitter Inc had requested October 10 to be the date marking the beginning of the trial, Musk has asked the judge to shift it to October 17 instead.

In order to "break the impasse to allow things to move forward promptly," Musk requested the judge to resolve his bid to walk away from his $44 billion deal to acquire the social media platform.

Accusing Twitter of slow-walking document production in advance of the trial to decide whether the Tesla CEO should be forced to complete the deal, Musk's attorneys said the social media giant is using the uncertainty over a trial date to delay other scheduling discussions.

Asking Twitter to immediately produce what it called "core documents," Musk said the San Francisco-based company misrepresented its user numbers and therefore breached the merger agreement.

Recommending shareholders' to vote for the completion of the deal, Twitter has set September 13 as the date for its shareholders to vote on the company’s pending buyout by Musk.

It wrote a letter to its shareholders stating “We are committed to closing the merger on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk. Your vote at the special meeting is critical to our ability to complete the merger.”

Vowing to loosen the company’s policing of content and root out fake accounts, Musk agreed in April to buy Twitter and take it private.

Both Twitter and Musk had agreed to pay each other a $1 billion breakup fee if either was responsible for the deal collapsing.

(With inputs from agencies)

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