Twitter shareholders voted in favor of Elon Musk’s deal on Tuesday to acquire the microblogging service for $44 billion (about Rs. 3,49,800 crore) according to a report. The results of the shareholder vote, announced Tuesday, come a month before the upcoming legal battle between the Tesla CEO and Twitter, which begins Oct. 17 in the Delaware Chancery Court. Musk agreed to take over Twitter earlier this year, but tried to pull out of the deal in July.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Twitter shareholders voted to approve Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s deal to buy the microblogging service. Musk had agreed to buy Twitter at a price of $54.20 (about Rs. 4,300) per share, much higher than Tuesday’s price of $43.20 (about Rs. 3,400). The deadline to vote on the deal was Tuesday, and the result paves the way for the world’s richest man to take over the company.
However, the Tesla CEO has repeatedly indicated that he does not want to go through with the deal and has sent multiple letters to Twitter to end the deal. The most recent of these posts was last week, when Musk’s lawyers informed Twitter that he had not been informed of money paid to a former employee, suspected whistleblower Peiter Zatko. Twitter has denied allegations that the payment violated the terms of the deal.
Ahead of the trial, which begins Oct. 17 in the Delaware Chancery Court, the court has cleared Musk to hear Zatko’s allegations against the company. Twitter’s former security chief has alleged that the company misled the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about the company’s security measures as part of a 2011 agreement. He has also alleged that Twitter has serious security flaws affecting the platform, and that one or more employees worked for foreign governments.
In July, Musk tried to pull out of the deal to take over Twitter, alleging that he had been given incorrect information about the number of spam or fake accounts with the company. The company sued Tesla’s CEO in July, calling its exit strategy “a model of hypocrisy.” Twitter also previously claimed that Musk was trying to “walk slowly” the trial, which starts next month.