Glamsquad reports that Elon Musk is reportedly accusing Twitter Inc. of attempting to conceal key witnesses in their legal battle over whether he must complete a $44 billion buyout of the company.
READ ALSO: Elon Musk Sells $6.9bn Worth Of Tesla Shares In Case He Is Forced To Buy Twitter As Trial Looms
According to reports, Musk is upset that Twitter isn’t releasing the names of employees who are specifically responsible for determining how much of Twitter’s customer base is made up of spam and robot accounts.
This was revealed by individuals who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
According to the sources, Musk’s lawyers have asked the judge in the case to order Twitter to identify the employees so that the defense can obtain their records and question them.
Under seal, a letter was filed Tuesday asking Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick to compel Twitter to hand over the names. Twitter’s attorneys have five business days under the court’s rules to decide what should be redacted from the filing as proprietary information.
A spokesman for Twitter declined to comment on the filing.
The letter comes as the Tesla Inc co-founder announced on Tuesday that he is selling $6.9 billion in Tesla stock to avoid a sudden sale if the deal to acquire Twitter is forced through. As a result, some analysts believe the billionaire will settle the case.
According to the report, Twitter has handed over the names of “records custodians,” who aren’t as familiar with the data at issue. They claim Musk wants McCormick to compel Twitter to reveal the names of the employees in charge of monitoring those accounts.
Both parties have issued a slew of subpoenas to banks, investors, and lawyers involved in the teetering transaction in order to gather evidence for an October 17 trial.
“It’s another salvo in the discovery wars that are common in this type of litigation,” Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who specializes in securities and merger and acquisition law, said. “Both sides are jockeying for position by focusing on different types of information.”
Battle of the bots
Twitter’s lawyers claim it will only take four days in court to prove Musk is using questions about spam and bot accounts as a pretext to back out of the deal. The company stated that it has turned over all of its information regarding those accounts and that it intends to make Musk pay the $54.20 per share that he initially agreed to.
READ ALSO: Elon Musk denies having affair with Google co-founder’s wife – See details
Musk claims in court filings that Twitter’s handover of the material has been lax, and that the company has failed to produce evidence that spam bots account for less than 5% of its active users, as stated in regulatory filings. He claims this gives him a legal basis to cancel the buyout.
He claims According to Twitter’s disclosures, the actual number of monetizable daily active users, or mDAU as the industry calls it, is 65 million lower than the 238 million claimed by the company. He also claims that Twitter misrepresents how many of those users view advertising, which is the company’s primary source of revenue. According to his estimates, less than 16 million users see the majority of ads and should be considered monetizable.