According to legal experts, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is hunting for evidence that Elon Musk sought to damage the funding of his $44 billion takeover bid for the social media company. Twitter is also probing Musk's motives for withdrawing from the deal.
Twitter issued hundreds of civil subpoenas to global banks, including affiliates of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), co-investors in the acquisition, including an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management Inc, and Musk advisors this week, according to documents filed with the Delaware Court of Chancery during the previous two days.
The business refused to comment. Brookfield did not respond promptly to a request for comment. Representatives of Musk and Twitter could not be reached.
The subpoenas want documents and communications related to the transaction and its finance, as well as any information on "bot" or fake Twitter accounts. In addition, they need information from the beneficiaries about the potential impact of changes in the stock price of Musk's electric car company Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc. on the agreement.
The subpoenas are part of Twitter's litigation against Musk, in which it wants to compel him to respect the $54.20 per share deal. A five-day trial is scheduled to begin on October 17 in the Delaware Chancery Court.
According to analysts, the subpoenas signal that Twitter desires to hear what bankers, investors, and advisors stated about Musk's conduct after he signed the deal in late April.
Minor Myers, a lecturer at the UConn School of Law, remarked, "They think that he has been working behind the scenes to blow the whole thing up."
Musk announced his withdrawal from the agreement on July 8, citing Twitter's purported violation of the conditions by hiding information about fake accounts on the network. Twitter has argued that the fake accounts are a distraction from the real pertinent problem, which is the terms of service. Musk also indicated that he was departing because Twitter dismissed high-level executives and one-third of the talent acquisition team, in breach of Twitter's mandate to "keep substantially intact the material components of its existing business organization."
According to legal experts, Musk cannot be compelled to sign the agreement if the funding fails if he is not responsible for the failure.
According to Twitter's subpoenas, Andreessen Horowitz operating partner Bob Swan, who initially managed Elon Musk's efforts to get transaction finance, was sacked. According to Twitter's complaint, longtime Musk colleague Antonio Gracias succeeded him.
Brian Quinn, a law professor at Boston College, claimed that Twitter users want to know if "Gracias had any participation in procuring funds or if he was just designed to delay proceedings."
Swan did not immediately react to queries from LinkedIn and Andreesen Horowitz. His company, Valor Equity Partners, did not respond to Gracias's request for comment.
Musk has suggested that Twitter will be interested in knowing about lenders' concerns on the number of fake accounts on the network and whether it posed an issue for them.
Investors were asked to produce communication with Musk's acquaintances, including Steve Jurvetson, a former Tesla board member and current director of SpaceX, Musk's privately owned rocket company.
Jurvetson's Future Ventures company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"funny, TWTR attorneys are sending subpoenas to friends in Elon Musk's ecosystem," tweeted Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR) co-founder Joe Lonsdale. He added, "Except than a few harsh remarks, I have nothing to do with this." Nonetheless, I received a paper notice stating 'YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED'
He described the subpoenas issued by Twitter as a "huge harassment fishing expedition."
His 8VC company did not instantly respond to Lonsdale's request for comment.
Theodore Kittila, a Delaware business attorney, alleged that Twitter is seeking to learn what Elon Musk was privately discussing while tweeting publicly about his concerns with Twitter bots and fake accounts.
Kittila added, "They are aiming to acquire access behind the tweets." "They are scrutinizing emails in an effort to infer the actual conversation and the grounds for his decision to terminate the contract"
In the past two days, Musk has sent subpoenas to data analytics business Concentrix Solutions Corp and content moderation startup TaskUs USA. The subpoena questions directed against Musk were presented in confidence.
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