Elon Musk orders Twitter to close $44 billion deal by October 28

The judge in the suit against Elon Musk has ruled that Musk has until 5 p.m. Oct. 28 to close on an acquisition of the social media platform in order to avoid a trial.

Kathaleen McCormick ruled Thursday over Twitter's objections that Musk's lawsuit is stayed until that date to allow the parties to close on the first proposed buyout deal proposed by Musk in April.

The parties are instructed to contact me by email that evening if the transaction does not close by 5 p.m. on October 28, 2022, to obtain November 2022 trial dates, according to McCormick in the order.

What Happened: Tesla Inc. TSLA CEO Musk said that Twitter Inc TWTR won't take a yes for an answer.

After Musk indicated he was willing to proceed with the original Twitter takeover deal at $54.20 per share, the Tesla chief asked Twitter to end all litigation before the deal closes, per CNBC.

Musk's team said in a filing with the Delaware Court of Chancery on Thursday that Twitter should drop the court date scheduled for mid-October so that necessary financing can be put together to close the deal by Oct. 28.

Twitter won't take a yes for an answer. The filing states that they had insisted on proceeding with the litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders interests.

The upcoming trial would hinder the deal from moving forward because the parties will remain distracted by discovery and unnecessary trial instead of allowing the two sides to focus on securing the debt financing necessary to complete the transaction, according to Musk s team. In a court filing late Thursday, Twitter called Musk's latest request to drop litigation invitation to further mischief and delay. In a letter to McCormick, the social media platform's lawyer said that Twitter does not trust Musk to follow through.

A corporate representative for one of the lending banks testified this morning that Mr. Musk has yet to send them a borrowing notice and has not communicated that he intends to close the transaction, let alone on a specific timeline, according to plaintiffs' attorney Kevin Shannon.

If Elon Musk gives Clarity, Tesla Shares Will Remain Under Pressure After Twitter-Deal News, Analyst Says.

Musk and Twitter agreed on the $44 billion takeover deal in April, but the deal stopped shortly after Musk said that the number of bots or spam accounts on Twitter was much higher than the company stated.

In July, when Musk sued Musk, the Tesla CEO looked ready for a court battle, but earlier this week, Musk proposed to buy Twitter at the original price of $54.20 per share.

It stated that it had received the letter and that it intends to close the transaction at $54.20, but it did not say anything about closing the litigation.

It appears that Twitter doesn't want to abandon its lawsuit until a deal is reached, and Musk has taken issue with this.

TWTR Price Action: Twitter has a 52 week high of $54.57 and a 52 week low of $31.30.

The stock closed Thursday at $49.75, down 3.61%, according to Benzinga Pro.