Twitter ( NYSE: TWTR ) is lower again Thursday, -1% , as some off-camera lawyering looks to come to some kind of resolution of the dispute over Elon Musk's $44B deal to acquire the company and take it private.
An already once-postponed deposition of Elon Musk - most recently set for Thursday - is delayed again as the Twitter and Musk teams deal behind the scenes with details around Musk's revived offer to go through with the $44B purchase (but conditioned on stopping the legal action).
Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick confirmed Wednesday that neither side had moved for a delay to their trial, so the schedule (to start Oct. 17) remained on course .
That trial is approaching at breakneck speed from a legal perspective. It's now 11 days away; final witness lists for the trial were due at the end of Wednesday; and upcoming pretrial draft order deadlines leave very little time for any remaining fact-finding depositions to take place.
The two sides of the deal were talking as of late Wednesday, the WSJ says , over details of Musk's proposal to follow through with his original agreement .
Musk had also reportedly tried to get the price of the deal lowered before sending this week's letter offering to move forward at the original price. He had sought a discount of up to 30% , according to the NYT - valuing Twitter at about $31B, vs. a current market capitalization of about $39.7B - but was rebuffed by the company. Talks in the past week of a 10% discount also ultimately didn't move forward.
Another entire arm of the deal talks focuses on the banks supplying some $13B in debt - including Morgan Stanley ( MS ), Bank of America ( BAC ) and Barclays ( BCS ) - and which are now looking at selling that debt for heavy losses (perhaps even billions of dollars) following volatility in the high-yield and credit markets.
Apollo Global Management and Sixth Street Partners said they were no longer in talks to provide financing for the deal - unsurprising amid Musk's months-long effort to exit the transaction.
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Twitter dips as lawyers talk with Musk over $44B buyout