The fight over the future of the company may have just begun after Musk returned to the bargaining table.
On Thursday, Mr. Musk asked a judge to stop the trial that was about to start next week so that he could complete his acquisition of the company.
The judge gave Mr. Musk three weeks to complete his purchase of the social network.
In a legal filing, Mr. Musk asked for patience. He said it would take several weeks to arrange financing for the deal, but he could complete it by the end of October. A trial will be held in November if the transaction doesn't close by then.
The trial should not proceed unless Mr. Musk makes good on his latest offer.
As negotiations over the sale of the company dragged into their third day, Mr. Musk made his request as the board discussed his latest offer.
The lawyers for Mr. Musk said that the attempt to stop the litigation was an invitation to further delays.
The deal was a big one. In April, Musk made an offer worth more than 40 billion dollars for the social network, saying he wanted to make it a private company.
There was a move. The price Mr. Musk agreed to pay for the company in April was proposed on October 4. If an agreement was reached at the original price, it would be a victory for the company. The judge gave Mr Musk three weeks to complete the deal.
Yes for an answer will not be accepted by the social networking site. They have insisted on proceeding with this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders interests, according to lawyers for Mr. Musk. It will undermine the ability of the parties to close the transaction if they go to trial.
A trial that would have forced Mr. Musk to buy the company had been scheduled for October. After changing his mind about buying the company, Mr. Musk wrote a letter to the company on Monday saying he would pay $44 billion for it.
The board is juggling two high-stakes negotiations, one over the legal battle and the other about a potential agreement to sell the company that would avoid the courtroom drama.
Two people with knowledge of the discussions said that the litigation against Mr. Musk would continue until a deal is reached. Technology executives Martha Lane Fox and Patrick Pichette are part of the transaction committee that meets weekly with legal and financial advisers.
The two sides exchanging legal documents necessary to transfer ownership of a company would usually be the mundane part of closing such a deal. The people said that Mr. Musk has made it difficult for the company to abandon its lawsuit until he takes ownership of the company.
The lawyers for the company said that Mr. Musk wouldn't commit to a closing date. Lawyers for Mr. Musk argued that the deal would be jeopardized if the lawsuit was not dropped.
On Thursday, Mr. Musk suggested that he had been persuaded to the negotiation table by a scene from a movie.
In the last few weeks, Mr. Musk has made a proposal to buy the company at a significant discount. People familiar with those conversations said discussions narrowed to around 10%.
Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Mr. Musk, said that the social media company was willing to negotiate.
Mr. Musk received billions off the transaction price. Mr. Spiro said that Mr. Musk refused because of the self-serving conditions that were put on the deal The spokesman wouldn't say anything about the claim.
After the conversations had stopped, Mr. Musk told the company that he was ready to go ahead with the original price.
Legal experts said that the lawsuit against Mr. Musk may continue even though he tried to stop it.
Debt financing is still a point of contention. Mr. Musk can walk away from the acquisition if his debt financing falls through.
A group of banks led by Morgan Stanley and Bank of America have agreed to lend Mr. Musk money. Through next year, the banks are responsible for that debt. Debt commitment letters from those banks are needed to finalize the deal.
Investment banks usually sell the debt they arrange for such loans in order to reduce their risks. Economic uncertainty has made banks sell loans at a loss, so doing so now might be difficult.
A corporate representative for one of the banks testified on Thursday that Mr. Musk didn't tell them that he was going to close the deal. The filing didn't say where the official testified or who they were. Mr. Musk is accused of breaching his contract by not trying to get the debt financing for the deal.
The remaining funds for the deal are going to come from Mr. Musk. Mr. Musk has sold about 15 billion shares of his company's stock to fund the purchase of the social networking site.
He said in the spring that he had raised $7.1 billion from equity investors, including the top venture capital firms and his personal advisers.
The terms of their agreement with Mr. Musk are not clear. Representatives of the companies that Mr. Ellison leads did not reply to questions.
The company's plans to participate in the deal have not changed.
The deal-making is still going on even though there is a lawsuit on the horizon. If the company can't reach an agreement with Mr. Musk, it will go to the Delaware Court of Chancery to try to get him to buy the company. The trial could include testimony from Mr. Musk.
Two people familiar with the matter said that a deposition with the billionaire was canceled. A person with knowledge of the plans says it has been changed to Monday.
The judge overseeing the litigation wrote in a letter on Thursday to lawyers for Mr. Musk that the trial was imminent. The legal teams were told to quickly resolve their disputes and prepare for the trial.
The reporting was done by Michael S.
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