Elon Musk isn’t the only big name involved in the battle for Twitter.
Key details
Twitter Inc. is subpoenaing some heavy hitters from Wall Street and Silicon Valley as part of its legal battle to force Elon Musk to complete his proposed $44-billion acquisition.
Among those being called in to court—Oracle head Larry Ellison, billionaire investor Marc Andreesen, venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, and former Intel CEO Bob Swan.
The social-media company is searching for evidence that shows Musk’s claim that he pulled the plug on his deal with Twitter over fake accounts on the platform is just an excuse. Any investors, bankers, friends or anyone else Musk might have spoken to about the deal are on Twitter’s list, report Bloomberg.
Twitter isn’t alone with sending out subpoenas. Musk is also sending out a list of his own. He is searching for evidence that Twitter failed to provide him with accurate information about bot accounts on the platform.
All of this follows Elon Musk’s decision to pull back on his offer to buy the social-media company.
Why it’s news
In April, Elon Musk announced that he held a 9.2% stake in Twitter, which made him the social-media company’s largest shareholder. Twitter’s stock price soared 25 percent after the announcement.
Later that month, the billionaire entrepreneur offered to buy all of Twitter at $54.20 per share—equaling about $44 billion. He said he originally invested in the platform because he believes it is failing in its potential to be the leading platform for free speech around the globe. In fact, he asked his 2 million followers if Twitter adhered to principles of free speech, and 70 percent said “no.”
Last month, Musk decided to back out of the deal, claiming there were too many fake accounts on the platform. Twitter has since sued Musk in Delaware Court of Chancery to complete the deal and requested the trial to take place in September. Musk, on the other hand, wanted to delay the trial until February 2023, stating that a case of this size takes time to prepare. Twitter was granted its wish of an expedited trial, with Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, the presiding judge, setting a five-day trial for October.
Musk then countersued Twitter, stating his reason for the termination was due to Twitter not being upfront about the number of fake accounts on the platform.
Now as the October trial date gets closer, Musk is giving hints he might follow through with his deal to buy the company. He recently sold $6.9 billion worth of Tesla stock and gave word that he would follow through with his deal if Twitter would be honest about bot accounts on the platform.