Scott Olson
Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) is seeking correspondence that billionaire Elon Musk exchanged with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Trade Commission over his over his on-again/off-again $44B attempt to take the social-media giant private.
Published reports say Twitter’s lawyers claimed in a court filing made public Thursday that Musk attorneys provided information to the SEC and FTC regarding the deal, but refused to give Twitter (TWTR) copies.
Twitter (TWTR) said Musk’s team cited “investigative privilege” in withholding the material. However, the social-media giant countered in its filing that the documents “bear upon key issues” in its lawsuit against Musk, so the billionaire should turn them over.
Musk agreed in April to buy Twitter (TWTR) for $44B, then tried to back out of the deal – prompting the social-media giant to sue him in Delaware state court to force the acquisition to go forward.
However, Musk last week changed his mind again and renewed his plan to buy TWTR at the previously agreed-to $54.20 a share. TWTR closed Thursday at $50.34.
A judge had scheduled a trial on Twitter’s lawsuit to begin next week, but postponed the session after Musk announced his intention to close the deal after all.
The court gave the parties until Oct. 28 to complete the merger if they want to avoid trial. The court documents made public Thursday were reportedly filed on the same day that the judge paused the proceedings.
Musk’s lawyers have previously disclosed that the SEC sought additional information about a May 17 tweet that the billionaire – who also serves as CEO of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) – wrote saying that the TWTR deal “cannot move forward.”
Meanwhile, a published report has indicated that the FTC was investigating whether Musk failed to comply with antitrust rules as he built up a 9% stake in Twitter (TWTR) before offering to buy the entire company. The FTC can review mergers for antitrust issues, but took no action on Musk’s TWTR offer before the deadline for blocking the deal expired in June.
