Elon Musk subpoenas ex-Twitter CEO and long-time friend Jack Dorsey in battle over buyout

Twitter and Musk are headed for an October trial in Delaware that should determine if Twitter can force the billionaire to go through with acquisition

Twitter has subpoenaed a host of tech investors and entrepreneurs connected to Musk

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has subpoenaed his friend and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as part of an effort to back out of his US$44 billion agreement to acquire the company Dorsey helped found, according to court documents. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 8:31am, 23 Aug 2022Updated: 11:53am, 23 Aug 2022

Elon Musk subpoenaed Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter Inc. and his long-time friend, in his defence against the social media company’s lawsuit to make him complete his proposed US$44 billion buyout.

Dorsey, who stepped down as Twitter’s chief executive officer last year, has been an energetic booster of Musk’s bid for the company, tweeting in April that Musk was the “singular solution I trust” to take over.

The subpoena follows a pair filed on Friday for Kayvon Beykpour, former head of consumer product at Twitter, and Bruce Falck, formerly in charge of revenue product. The billionaire is rapidly marshaling documents and data to show that Twitter understated how much of its customer base is made up of spam and robot accounts.

Since the world’s richest person retreated from the purchase, dozens of people, banks and funds have been subpoenaed by both sides in the legal fight playing out in Delaware. The push to gather information and interview important figures in the deal comes ahead of an expedited schedule for the trial, slated to begin October 17 and last five days.

Musk’s decision to subpoena Dorsey, who served two stints as CEO, is an interesting one given the duo’s history. The two executives, both big bitcoin supporters, have been friendly for years. Dorsey has praised Musk, describing him as a favourite influential tweeter, and invited him to Twitter to discuss product ideas.

In a Rolling Stone interview in early 2019, Dorsey said he “loved” Musk and what he was trying to do with Tesla Inc. and SpaceX. Musk even appeared at Twitter’s companywide retreat in early 2020 to speak with employees by videochat – during which he complained about Twitter’s bot problem.

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. on January 13, 2021. Photo: AFP

More recently, the two have advocated for making Twitter’s software and content moderation decisions more transparent. After Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder in late March, Dorsey was the first person at the company he called, according to a regulatory filing. Dorsey, who was still a Twitter director at the time, later encouraged Musk to join the board and spoke glowingly of him after the board agreed to sell Musk the company.