Elon Musk Vs Twitter: Tesla Chief Seeks Dismissal Of Lawsuit, Subpoenas Jack Dorsey

The legal battle between Musk and Twitter intensified after the Tesla chief announced in July that he would abandon the deal in a few months after the agreement was finalised in April.

Tesla chief Elon Musk ( Image Source :Getty )

New Delhi: Tesla chief Elon Musk has asked for the dismissal of a shareholder lawsuit against him over cancelling the $44 billion buyout agreement and subpoenaed the social media company's former CEO. The legal battle between Musk and Twitter intensified after Musk announced in July that he would abandon the deal in a few months after the agreement was finalised in April.

Twitter claimed that the company suffered financial losses as a result of Musk's withdrawal, according to The Hill, cited news agency ANI report. Musk had terminated the buyout deal alleging “false and misleading representations” from Twitter during the agreement processes and the company’s failure to provide information on “the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform,” according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The company later filed a lawsuit to ensure Musk complete the acquisition which was countersued by Musk escalating the legal battle. Earlier this month, Musk even hinted that the deal may still move forward given the social media company provides information on fake and bot accounts. In a July filing, Twitter shareholder called out Musk for “lame rationales for reneging on his contract,” and accused the billionaire entreprenuer of fabricating excuses to escape the deal.

Responding to the filing, Musk’s legal team has termed the losses that suit seeks to address “purely hypothetical,” arguing the case should be dismissed, reported news agency Bloomberg.

In a July report on its quarterly earnings, the company cited “uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter by an affiliate of Elon Musk” as a contributing factor to revenue decreases.

In retaliation to the lawsuit, Musk subpoenaed former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Monday, according to a filing shared by The Verge.

"In principle, I don't believe anyone should own or run Twitter. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company," Dorsey said on Twitter in April.

Earlier this month, Musk also pointed out that Twitter failed to disclose litigation against the Indian Government. Musk said that he was "hoodwinked" into signing the deal to buy the San Francisco-based social media company.

Musk said that Twitter should follow the local law in India, according to the court documents, reported news agency ANI.