I get the sense that the choose overseeing the upcoming Twitter vs Elon Musk trial actually doesn’t look after Elon all that a lot.
With the trial set for October, by which Musk will search to exit his $44 billion Twitter takeover bid, on the grounds that Twitter has lied concerning the presence of bots and spam on its app, Musk and Twitter are actually within the evidence-gathering stage, as they give the impression of being to formulate their respective circumstances within the course of.
This week, Musk and Co. had what seemed to be a win, with former Twitter Safety chief Peter ‘Mudge’ Zatko leveling a range of accusations against the company, together with the suggestion that Twitter has certainly intentionally lied concerning the presence of bots and spam within the app.
Musk himself appeared pretty happy with Zatko’s revelations – although whether or not they’ll truly make any distinction, in relation to Musk’s authorized case, is up for debate.
Although it appears unlikely, with Twitter noting that the unique phrases of the deal embrace the availability that its bot/spam numbers are estimates, not stone-clad knowledge factors, which Musk agreed to when he signed the unique doc.
That signifies that Musk and his staff will most likely nonetheless want to search out one other approach out – and this week, Musk’s staff had one other minor win, with the choose within the case ruling that Twitter has to provide more insight into how it assesses its bot/spam counts.
Musk and Co. requested for a spread of information factors on the accounts that Twitter has assessed previously, and the choose dominated that Twitter does have to offer some more information.
However there was additionally this:
“Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s Court docket of Chancery mentioned lots of Musk’s knowledge calls for have been “absurdly broad,” amounting to trillions of information factors that “nobody of their proper thoughts has ever tried to undertake such an effort.”
All through the exploratory course of, McCormick has appeared largely unsympathetic to Musk’s place, as Twitter has offered its authorized case. After viewing Twitter’s unique case notes, McCormick ruled that the case trial would be expedited to 5 days in October, which is far shorter and sooner than Musk’s staff had pushed for.
That would mirror the view that Twitter is on steadier floor, in a authorized sense (although Twitter had pushed for a September trial date), with the complexities that Musk and Co. have offered failing to shift the needle, a minimum of at this stage of the method.
However now, Musk will get extra knowledge, whereas Musk can be seeking to sit down with Zatko to discuss his revelations, within the hope that this too will assist to solidify his case.
It doesn’t look like it’ll add a heap of authorized weight to Musk’s claims – however then once more, Zatko’s testimony does solid extra doubt over Twitter’s inner processes, whereas the pending fines as a result, which may very well be within the billions, might also be grounds for dismissal of the takeover settlement, based mostly on Materials Antagonistic Impact (i.e. an unexpected change within the state of affairs which alters the make-up of the unique settlement).
However most likely not. We’ll simply have to attend and see.
On one other entrance, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey woke up from hibernation this week to share a few of his standard, faux-philosophical ideas on how issues are going for the app.
In response to a tweeted query about whether or not Twitter has turned out the best way that he wished, Dorsey mentioned that his largest remorse is that Twitter became a company within the first place.
Dorsey – who’s made millions from selling Twitter stock – has a brand new, revisionist perspective: that Twitter ought to truly be a protocol as a substitute, which might function extra like e-mail, and wouldn’t be owned by an organization or state.
Which is silly, and is unnecessary for numerous causes – whereas it’s additionally price noting that Dorsey has beforehand mentioned that his ‘largest remorse’ is:
So, mainly, Jack Dorsey has a whole lot of regrets, which displays each his fickle nature and his philosophical flexibility, which is able to change once more subsequent time you ask him.
In different phrases, don’t ask Jack. Happening remarks from those who worked at the company during his tenure, he wasn’t round a lot both approach.
So, issues are nonetheless fairly tense, nonetheless fairly chaotic within the Twitter/Musk stakes, with the most recent accusations most likely not serving to Musk’s case, however positively not serving to Twitter itself in any approach both.
Which is the subsequent huge query – what occurs to Twitter after the trial in October?
If Musk in some way does win, and wriggles out of his takeover bid, Twitter will probably be left with an enormous mess to scrub up, and never a lot cash with which to do it, whereas if Musk loses, he’ll be taking on an organization that he publicly fought tooth and nail to get away from, which might be not ideally suited state of affairs for the workers which are left behind.
After which, once more, will come the potential fines based mostly on Zatko’s testimony, whereas Twitter’s share value, you’ll count on, may also be in free fall – as a result of clearly, even Elon noticed one thing within the app’s documentation that made his flip on the app.
Principally, in three months time, we’re going to be Twitter lots in a different way. And it most likely gained’t be for the higher.
The five-day Elon vs Twitter trial is scheduled for October seventeenth
