Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will be deposed by the legal teams of Elon Musk and Twitter.
Twitter is currently fighting Musk in court over his attempts to cancel an earlier offer to purchase the social media platform for $44 million. According to Bloomberg, Dorsey was summoned by Musk to produce documents regarding “the effect or effect of false accounts on Twitter’s operations and business” last month. He will be confronted on Tuesday with questions from both sides.
Musk is a friend of Dorsey and wants to cancel the merger because of concerns that fake accounts could be as high as 33% instead of the reported 5%. A lower number of monetizable daily users may justify a lower valuation. The acquisition status will be determined in a trial that is set for October 17.
Dorsey, who founded Twitter but resigned to head Block Financial Transactions Company, has called Musk and his mission “extend the lights of consciousness” the “singular solutions” he trusts to manage the social media company.
“I love Twitter. Dorsey stated that Twitter is the closest thing to global consciousness.” “The idea and the service are all that matter to me.” “I will do everything in my power to protect them both.” “My biggest regret is Twitter’s failure to grow as a company.” “It was owned by Wall Street, the ad model.” “It is a good first step to get it back from Wall Street.”
Dorsey retains a 2.4% share on Twitter. It is currently led by Parag Agrawal, CEO. Last week, the majority of Twitter shareholders approved the merger deal with Musk. He remains the largest shareholder of the company through his 9.6% stake.
A handful of wins for Musk’s team have marked the weeks leading up to the trial. Recently, Kathaleen McCormick, Delaware Chancery Court Chancellor, denied Twitter attorneys access to Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla email accounts. This was on the grounds of attorney-client privilege.
McCormick made the following observation based on the affidavits of lawyers and IT professionals from the two companies: “Musk had unrestricted personal use of his Tesla Email account. That ‘no one at Tesla can access these emails without Musk’s consent or to the extent legally required and that SpaceX cannot access his email without Musk’s express consent.” These facts render Musk’s expectation for privacy was objectively reasonable. Twitter denies the motion.
McCormick also granted Musk’s lawyers permission to utilize the testimony of former Twitter executive Peiter Zatko, who claimed in a recent whistleblower report that his colleagues did not have the resources or motivation necessary to calculate the number of fake accounts on the platform. Zatko told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that the company has a number of cybersecurity flaws, as well as exposure to foreign intelligence agencies.
Attorneys for Twitter challenged Musk’s reasoning for not passing on the deal. They produced text messages Musk sent to Michael Grimes (an executive at Morgan Stanley), in which he indicated that he was concerned over macroeconomic conditions resulting from the Russian invasion. These messages could place Musk in violation of the contract. This obligates the buyer to make every effort to close a deal and could be used against his claim that he was hesitant because of an incorrect number of false accounts.
