Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is tangled in a legal battle with his efforts to buy Twitter, has subpoenaed Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey to collect documents regarding the buyout deal.
Dorsey, who stepped down from the CEO role last year and left the board in May this year, had announced his support for Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in April.
According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the subpoena seeks documents and communications from Dorsey about the Twitter buyout agreement, reports said. Dorsey was also asked about spam and fake accounts and its impact on the platform as well as Twitter’s use of monetizable daily active usage or mDAU as a key metric.
The subpoena was filed as Musk is preparing to face a five-day trial in a lawsuit from Twitter on October 17 in the Delaware Court of Chancery over his intended termination of the planned acquisition of Twitter.
Judge Kathaleen McCormick earlier had ordered Twitter to collect, review and produce documents from Kayvon Beykpour, who was the general manager of its consumer product division.
Meanwhile, Musk’s legal team is seeking information from Bruce Falck, who previously lead Twitter’s revenue product division.
It was in late April that Twitter agreed to accept Musk’s offer for $54.20 per share in cash and to become a privately held company.
Dorsey had tweeted in April that Musk was the singular solution he trusts to run Twitter, and that both Musk and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal’s goal was to create a platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive.
Dorsey had tweeted then, “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.”
However, Musk sought to back out from the deal later without paying a $1 billion breakup fee, citing Twitter’s failure to provide details about the prevalence of bot and spam accounts.
Twitter sued him later, accusing him of sabotaging the merger because it no longer served his interests, and demanding he complete the merger.
Twitter shareholders reportedly will vote on Musk’s merger during a special meeting on September 13.
Meanwhile, Musk, in early August, said he has sold some of his stake in the luxury electric car maker to avoid an emergency sale of its stock in the event of a forceful Twitter deal.
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