Twitter said it did not trust the billionaire’s promises to proceed with the takeover.
Image source, ReutersBillionaire Elon Musk has said he aims to complete his purchase of Twitter by the end of the month, but the company “will not take yes for an answer”.
In a court filing, he said the social media platform had raised concerns about the “theoretical possibility of a future failure to obtain debt financing” to pay for the deal.
Twitter had sued Mr Musk to force him to go ahead with the acquisition.
Mr Musk asked the court to put that legal fight on hold.
The move comes just days after Mr Musk sent a letter to Twitter saying he would proceed with the takeover as originally planned, pending receipt of the financing and an end to the legal battle.
“There is no need for an expedited trial to order defendants to do what they are already doing,” Mr Musk’s attorneys wrote in a filing.
“Yet, Twitter will not take yes for an answer. Astonishingly they have insisted on proceeding with this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders interests.”
Mr Musk announced a plan to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share in April. But he backed away from the deal just a few weeks later saying he was concerned that spam accounts on the platform were higher than Twitter had claimed.
Mr Musk was due to be questioned this week as part of the preparation for the trial, which was scheduled to begin 17 October.
Shares in Twitter ended the day down more than 3%, amid investor doubts the deal will go through.