Musk launches legal request to summon Twitter founder Dorsey to court
Elon Musk has launched a legal request to summon Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey to court in his battle to walk away from a $44bn deal to buy the social media company, according to a court filing.
Dorsey, who stepped down as Twitter’s chief in November and left the board in May, has been asked by Musk’s lawyers to cough up documents and communications about the Tesla tycoon’s April deal to snap up the firm and about spam accounts on the platform, according to a copy of a subpoena.
Musk is looking for support for his claims the company has not been honest about the amount of spam accounts on the platform, after he accused the company of defrauding him by hiding the number in its regulatory filings. He claims he used the figure of real users to value the company.
Twitter has denied Musk’s spam allegations.
The subpoena comes after Musk told Twitter in July he was ending his deal to buy the firm for $54.20 per share because he said Twitter had violated the deal contract. Twitter and Musk have since sued each other, with Twitter asking a judge on the Delaware Court of Chancery to order Musk to close the deal. A five-day trial is set to start on the 17th October
Musk also wanted documents and communications regarding alternative measures of active users that the company has considered and information about the use of mDAU in executive pay and annual targets.
Twitter declined Reuters’ request for comment.
Dorsey came out in support of Musk’s buyout offer, with the two men agreeing on the need for more transparency for its algorithm and allowing users more control over the content they see.