Musk requests to delay Twitter trial to November

Elon Musk on Tuesday asked court permission to delay the Twitter Inc trial by about a month to November, according to a court filing.

Musk and Twitter have sued each other in Delaware state court and a five-day trial is scheduled to start Oct. 17.

Twitter wants the court to order Musk to close the deal for $54.20 per share, while Musk wants an order saying he can walk away without paying a $1 billion break-up fee alleging Twitter violated the deal contract.

Musk asked the judge to let both sides continue briefing their cases through Nov. 10, followed by a conference to discuss what evidence they can introduce at trial. He said a trial could begin later that month "subject to the court's availability".

Musk sued Twitter in July and accused the company of fraud for misleading him about the amount of spam on the platform in its securities filings. He also alleged Twitter breached the deal contract and violated the Texas Securities Act.

Earlier on Tuesday, a regulatory filing showed that Musk has sent an additional letter of deal termination to Twitter to include a recent whistleblower complaint from the former security head of the social media firm as another reason to scrap the deal.