Twitter Inc. has hired merger law heavyweight Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz LLP as it races to sue Elon Musk for moving to dump his $44 billion takeover of the company, according to people familiar with the matter.
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The social media company aims to file suit early this week, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the matter is private.
According to Bloomberg, by hiring Wachtell, it gains access to lawyers including Bill Savitt and Leo Strine, who served as Chancellor of the Delaware Chancery Court, where the case will be heard.
Musk has brought in Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP. The firm led his successful defense against a defamation claim in 2019 and is representing him as part of an ongoing shareholder lawsuit over his failed attempt to take Tesla Inc. private in 2018.
An official for Wachtell Lipton declined to comment, and officials for Quinn Emanuel couldn’t be reached.
A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment. Musk and Jared Birchall, the head of his family office, did not respond to a request for comment.
Delaware is the corporate home to more than half of US public companies, including Twitter, and more than 60 per cent of Fortune 500 firms. There, chancery judges — business law experts — hear cases without juries and can’t award punitive damages.
Based on previous merger fights, efforts to terminate a deal can play out within a few months, often ending with settlements to avoid further wrangling.
Twitter Chairman, Bret Taylor, had responded by vowing to enforce the deal in what promises to be an arduous court brawl.
Twitter shares closed 5.1 per cent lower at $36.81 in official trading at the weekend, and dropped another 4.8 per cent to about $35 in post-market activity.