(Bloomberg) — Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of hedge fund Citadel, was added to a sweeping list of those Twitter Inc. has subpoenaed in its effort to force Elon Musk to complete his $44 billion purchase of the social media company.
The subpoena notice for Griffin, whose involvement — if any — in Musk’s proposed takeover of the company is unclear, was filed Wednesday as part of a slew of document requests from both sides of the deal. Twitter has sought information from more than a dozen investment firms that committed equity to Musk’s purchase as well as the banks that had advised Musk and pledged billions in financing.
Twitter Subpoenas Musk Deal Investors, Digs Into Andreessen, VCs
Like many hedge funds, Griffin’s Citadel has owned both Tesla and Twitter stock. But the filings in Delaware Chancery Court are addressed to Griffin rather than his company and list Griffin as “an actual or potential” co-investor in the equity financing for the deal. Zia Ahmed, a spokesman for Griffin, declined to comment. The subpoena asks for documents and communications related to Musk and Twitter’s deal proposals, agreements, financing, and much more.
For his part, Musk has requested records from Twitter’s deal advisers, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., to gather information on how the two helped steer the company during its negotiations with Musk. His legal team wants documents related to discussions about the proposed merger and analysis of Twitter’s financial conditions, as well as information about any talks “with or about other potential purchasers of Twitter” besides Musk.
Both sides are seeking information to make their case ahead of the Oct. 17 trial in Twitter’s suit seeking to force Musk to complete the $44 billion acquisition. Musk claims he’s trying to cancel the deal because Twitter failed to provide him with information about the number of spam and bot accounts on the platform. Twitter says his bot complaints were a pretext for him to walk away and that it has provided him with its “firehose” of data.
Torrent of Subpoenas
Twitter and Musk have also been fighting over the schedule of the public filing of Musk’s counterclaims against Twitter, with the billionaire saying the social media company was using court confidentiality rules “as a sword and a shield to keep defendants’ side of the story concealed.” On Wednesday a judge ruled that Musk would have to wait until Friday to file a public version of his claims.
In addition to seeking details from deal financiers, Twitter sought information from one — Key Wealth Advisors — about communications with Silicon Valley investors Jason Calacanis, Steve Jurvetson, Joe Lonsdale, Chamath Palihapitiya, Keith Rabois and David Sacks. Jurvetson’s DFJ Growth IV Partners was also served.
The documents say Twitter tried to serve Griffin at his home and office in New York. The billionaire said in June that he had moved to Miami, where he is establishing new headquarters for his $52 billion firm. The subpoena was received by Griffin’s attorney, according to Ahmed.
Twitter also subpoenaed Musk’s companies, Tesla Inc. and SpaceX. They were asked to turn over any documents about the Twitter deal, including communications with their boss. Twitter also sought information from Musk’s lawyers at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and McDermott Will & Emery.
A unit of crypto-currency exchange Binance was also subpoenaed by Twitter. Binance put $500 million into Musk’s $7.1 billion equity raise for the deal in May. Twitter’s lawyers want to know about investment terms and the billionaire’s efforts to syndicate the package, according to court filings.
The case is Twitter v. Musk, 22-0613, Delaware Chancery Court (Wilmington).
(Updates with details from Griffin’s subpoena in third paragraph.)
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