Ahead of their trial, next month in Delaware Chancery Court, Elon Musk and Twitter were scheduled this week to conduct a series of depositions. However, the first of the sessions has been delayed according to the Associated Press. Musk’s depositions have been rescheduled for October 6-7, Reuters reported Tuesday. In addition, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal was also not questioned as scheduled on Monday. 

Reuters added that the timing of the deposition was “always subject to change, given the fast-tracked nature of the litigation.” 

Twitter’s stock actually jumped Monday, amid speculation about a settlement in the case, but optimism about such a deal had waned by later in the day. 

According to The Guardian, Musk was expected to spend several days being questioned by Twitter’s attorneys. 

 “Twitter’s attorneys are expected to use the interview to try to show that Musk abandoned the deal due to falling financial markets and not because the company misled him about the real number of users or hid security flaws, as he alleged,” the newspaper said. 

Musk, back in April, reached an agreement to acquire Twitter and take it private, at a price of $54.20 a share. In the subsequent weeks, however, Musk first declared the deal “on hold,” and later declared his intention to back out of the deal. This led to a lawsuit from Twitter, which claimed that Musk was using the excuse of too many bots on the platform. Twitter is seeking to hold Musk to the merger agreement, arguing that he doesn’t have the right to exit the deal. 

Twitter’s shareholders approved the deal with Musk last month. 

Axios reported Tuesday that Musk “knows that there’s a good chance he’ll lose his lawsuit against Twitter, thus requiring him to buy the social media company for $44 billion,” and that Musk would likely try to increase the company’s value, should he end up the owner of Twitter. 

“Musk understands that Twitter today isn’t worth $44 billion and that it probably wasn’t worth $44 billion when he first signed the merger agreement in April. So the goal would be to make it worth even more, via an eventual sale or return to the public markets.”

And the New York Post reported this week that the whistleblower complaint from former Twitter security chief Peiter “Mudge” Zatko will likely lead to an FTC investigation which may not be good for Musk. 

“Any potential fine would come after next month’s courtroom battle with Musk, potentially requiring the mogul to pony up billions of dollars in penalties if he’s forced to take over the company,” the Post said. 

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters.