Elon Musk subpoenas Twitter founder Jack Dorsey as legal dispute over $44BN purchase continues
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Elon Musk has subpoenaed his friend and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey amid the ongoing legal battle over his $44 billion acquisition of the social network.
Musk’s legal team is likely seeking support from Dorsey – the ultimately Twitter insider who ran the company for eight years – for his argument that the platform has not been truthful about the number of bots and fake accounts among its 238 million daily active users.
Dorsey co-founded Twitter in 2006 and reportedly grew close to Musk, urging him to buy the company and take it private. He stepped down from running the company a second time last November and handed the role to current CEO Parag Agrawal.
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Musk’s legal team is likely seeking support from Dorsey – the ultimately Twitter insider who ran the company for eight years
According to the subpoena, Dorsey is being asked for documents related to ‘the impact or effect of false or spam accounts on Twitter’s business and operations, Twitter’s use of mDAU as a Key Metric’ and other information
According to the subpoena, Dorsey is being asked for documents related to ‘the impact or effect of false or spam accounts on Twitter’s business and operations, Twitter’s use of mDAU as a Key Metric,’ and ‘any process or workflow, other than the mDAU Audit and the suspension workflow, that Twitter uses, has used, or has discussed or considered using to detect and label accounts as spam or false.’
When reached by DailyMail.com, a representative for Twitter said they had ‘nothing to add.’
Back in April, shortly after Musk initially reached a deal to buy Twitter, Dorsey said: ‘In principle, I don’t believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company. Solving for the problem of it being a company however, Elon is the singular solution I trust. I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.’
‘Elon’s goal of creating a platform that is ‘maximally trusted and broadly inclusive’ is the right one,’ Dorsey wrote. ‘This is also @paraga’s goal, and why I chose him. Thank you both for getting the company out of an impossible situation. This is the right path…I believe it with all my heart.’
Three weeks ago, Twitter subpoenaed information on a wide range of Musk’s inner circle, including investors Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sacks, Steve Jurvetson, Marc Andreessen, Jason Calacanis, Keith Rabois and Joe Lonsdale
Musk’s lawyers have reportedly sought information from a range of mid-level employees and high-level executives regarding Twitter’s user data and how it was collected and analyzed. Twitter’s stock price is trading much lower than it was when Musk first offered to buy it
That was prior to Musk’s attempt to back out of the deal over his concerns about Twitter claiming only 5 percent of its daily active users are bots.
Judge Kathaleen McCormick, who is overseeing the case in the Court of Chancery in Delaware, recently ruled that Musk’s team can have access to information from former Twitter head of product Kayvon Beykpour.
According to Seeking Alpha, both sides have expanded their list of subpoenas to include a cast of characters, such as ‘Holocene Advisors, D.E. Shaw, and Discord – likely part of Musk attempts to get hold of messages about the deal (along with seeking documents from Signal and iMessage).’
Musk’s lawyers have reportedly sought information from a range of mid-level employees and high-level executives regarding Twitter’s user data and how it was collected and analyzed.
Three weeks ago, Twitter subpoenaed information on a wide range of Musk’s inner circle, including investors Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sacks, Steve Jurvetson, Marc Andreessen, Jason Calacanis, Keith Rabois and Joe Lonsdale.
Analysts said that Twitter is likely trying to find evidence that Musk made statements privately that contradicted his public stance that the company’s issues with fake accounts made the buyout untenable.
For instance, if Musk hypothetically downplayed the bot issue as he sought financial backing for the deal, or revealed to confidantes that he had other reasons for backing out of the acquisition, it could bolster Twitter’s case.
This back and forth legal wrangling is expected to continue ahead of a 5-day trial in Delaware that’s set to begin October 17.
The trial will determine whether Musk will be forced to follow through with his planned buyout of the company or whether he can walk away from the deal.