Elon Musk Subpoenas Jack Dorsey in Twitter Takeover Trial: Report

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk’s lawyers have sent a subpoena to Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey in pursuit of documents pertaining to the effect of spam/fake accounts on the company’s business.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is also seeking information on Twitter’s use of monetizable daily active users (MDAUs) and other metrics as indicators of user or advertiser engagement.

Musk originally offered to buy Twitter for $44 billion USD, but last month announced he was “terminating” his bid because the company wasn’t being upfront about its bot account estimates. His lawyers claimed that Twitter’s refusal to deliver information on bot accounts amounted to a material breach of the pair’s agreement.

Twitter, in turn, sued Musk to follow through on the deal. The two parties will meet in court for a five-day trial starting October 17. Musk has also filed a countersuit against Twitter, details of which are yet to be made public.

Dorsey wasn’t expected to be a part of the trial until Musk subpoenaed him on August 19. Both sides have issued dozens of subpoenas in recent weeks, with Twitter targeting several members of Musk’s inner circle of Silicon Valley investors and friends. The company seems especially interested in documents and communications pertaining to Musk’s efforts to finance the takeover.

A report from earlier this year indicated that even before the Twitter deal, Musk and Dorsey often interacted with each other on the platform and traded private messages. Dorsey reportedly advocated for taking Twitter private in his conversations with Musk.

The former Twitter CEO, who stepped down from his position late last year, is also sympathetic towards Musk’s vision for the platform.

“Elon is the singular solution I trust,” Dorsey tweeted on April 25, the day Twitter accepted Musk’s takeover bid. “I trust his mission to extend the light of consciousness.”

In addition to Dorsey, Musk’s lawyers have also sent a subpoena to Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter’s former general manager of consumer business who was fired in May. Musk has also alleged that Twitter violated their merger agreement by making personnel changes without his consent.

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