David Bridges
It’s almost money time in the Elon Musk-Twitter (TWTR) saga, which has been keeping markets and social networks spellbound since April.
As sports fans and athletes know well, it’s a pivotal moment. Any mistake can be very costly.
In the legal battle between the world’s richest man and the influential microblogging website Twitter, the star is about to enter the scene.
Musk will answer questions from the platform’s lawyers on Sept. 26 and 27 at a law firm in Wilmington, Del., according to a court filing.
This deposition, which is not public, might be extended to Sept. 28.
One open question is whether the tech tycoon will appear in person or by videoconference. Musk can be whimsical, so either prospect is possible.
Deposition of Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
In addition to speaking with Musk, Twitter lawyers will depose his lawyer, Alex Spiro, on Sept.25, and Musk’s lieutenant, Jared Birchall, according to separate court filings.
Before everyone else, it was Jack Dorsey, the founder and former CEO of Twitter who was to answer questions from the lawyers of his former group on Sept. 20.
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Dorsey, who is a friend of Musk, was to be questioned by attorneys for both sides via Zoom. He was particularly supportive of Musk’s efforts to acquire Twitter.
These depositions can influence this battle, the trial of which is scheduled for Oct. 17 before Delaware Court Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick.
The Trial Is Getting Closer
It all started with Musk taking a stake in Twitter in early April. The billionaire and CEO of Tesla then became the group’s largest shareholder with a 9.2% stake.
He subsequently terminated an agreement with management that gave him a seat on the board. At the end of April, he made an offer valuing the platform at $44 billion.
He then explained that he wanted to take Twitter private and fix the problem of spam bots, or fake accounts, which according to Twitter represent just under 5% of users.
On July 8 Musk withdrew his offer. In an SEC filing Musk said he’d wanted to end the deal because of disagreements about the number of fake accounts on the platform.
On July 12, Twitter decided to sue the billionaire in Delaware Chancery Court to enforce the original merger agreement. Since Twitter’s complaint, the two camps have engaged in a war of subpoenas.
Musk lost a round when Chancellor McCormick decided that the trial would start Oct. 17, for five days. That’s a week before the Oct. 24 deadline that both sides had set to finalize the transaction. The billionaire wanted the trial to take place in 2023.
But on Sept. 7 the Tesla CEO was allowed to amend his claims with whistleblower allegations in support of his argument.
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