Aug 22, 2022 - Economy

Elon Musk subpoenas Jack Dorsey

Sara Fischer

Photo illustration of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey surrounded by Twitter icons — Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Elon Musk has subpoenaed former Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey for documents that could support his legal push to end his $44 billion takeover bid in a Delaware court this fall.

Why it matters: Dorsey and Musk are close, and Dorsey has been encouraging of Musk’s takeover bid publicly and privately, so it's unclear why Musk would need to need to subpoena him for further documents that would support his case.

Details: According to the subpoena, Musk's legal team is looking for Dorsey to provide information pertaining to Twitter's user base and the number of spam accounts on its platform.

For example, it wants access to "documents and communications" regarding Twitter's use of monetizable daily active users (mDAU) as a “key metric." It also wants information on the "impact or effect of false or spam accounts on Twitter's business and operations."

The big picture: That information is central to Musk's argument that Twitter has not been forthcoming about its user data, and thus he should be able to back out of the deal.

Musk's legal team last week subpoenaed a former Twitter product executive that was ousted earlier this year.
Twitter has argued that Musk's argument is legally weak and presents inaccuracies.

What to watch: The two parties are expected to meet at a Delaware Chancery Court on October 17th, unless they settle out of court before it gets to that point.

Go deeper: A timeline of the Musk-Twitter deal so far

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Elon Musk subpoenas Jack Dorsey

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