EXPLAINER: What happens next in the Musk-Twitter saga?

In the latest twist in the Twitter-Elon Musk saga, the company has sued the billionaire Tesla CEO in an attempt to force him to complete his $44 billion takeover.

Twitter claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Delaware that Musk's “outlandish” and “bad faith” actions have caused the social media platform irreparable harm and sunk its stock price.

Legal experts say Twitter Inc. has a strong case, but the coming court battle could be long and contentious and the outcome uncertain. So what's next for Twitter and Musk in the battle over the social media company's future?

WHY DID TWITTER SUE ELON MUSK?

In short, Twitter wants to complete the deal both sides had agreed to, and says Musk's reasons for backing out are just a cover for his cold feet after the takeover no longer makes financial sense for him.

In April, Musk pledged to pay $54.20 a share for Twitter, which agreed to those terms after reversing its initial opposition to the deal. But the two sides have been bracing for a legal fight since the billionaire said Friday that he was backing away from his agreement to buy the company, saying Twitter did not give him enough information about how many spam accounts are on the service, among other reasons.

Twitter’s lawsuit asserts that “Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.”

“Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away,” the suit states.

Musk agreed to pay 38% above Twitter's stock...