Read Elon Musk’s Texts to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal Ahead of October Trial

Newly disclosed textual content messages between Elon Musk and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal confirmed that the 2 males briefly bonded within the spring over their love of engineering — a minimum of till Musk publicly tweeted this message early on April 9: ‘ Is Twitter dying? ‘”

That soured a relationship that appeared to bloom across the time Twitter provided the billionaire Tesla CEO a board seat after studying that he had bought an enormous stake within the firm. In the texts, Agrawal questioned Musk about public criticism of Twitter, describing the feedback as unhelpful and distracting throughout the firm.

“What did you get done this week?” Musk tersely responded lower than a minute later. “I’m not joining the board. This is a waste of time. Will make an offer to take Twitter private.”

The messages revealed in Delaware courtroom filings forward of a high-stakes trial provide a window into Twitter’s delicate negotiations with Musk. At the time, he had not solely invested closely in Twitter shares, he was publicly proposing concepts for enhancing it or beginning an alternate.

Twitter and Musk are due in courtroom October 17 for a trial that can determine whether or not the world’s richest man will probably be pressured to finish his agreed-to $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,58,800 crore) acquisition of Twitter. The paperwork had been first revealed on @chancery_daily, a Twitter account that carefully follows the Delaware Chancery Court, the place the five-day trial will happen.

“I have a ton of ideas, but lmk if I’m pushing too hard,” Musk texted Agrawal on April 7, shortly after Twitter provided him the board seat. “I just want Twitter to be maximum amazing.”

Agrawal invited Musk to “treat me like an engineer” as a substitute of a CEO as they labored by means of technical questions collectively. At one level, Musk wrote, “I love our conversations!”

Two days after the blowup about Musk’s “Twitter dying” tweet, on April 11, Agrawal introduced Musk wouldn’t be becoming a member of the board in any case. On April 14, Twitter revealed in a securities submitting that Musk had provided to purchase the corporate outright for about $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,58,800 crore) . After first attempting to thwart the hostile takeover, Twitter ended up agreeing to the deal on April 25.

The textual content exchanges had been included in redacted paperwork that Musk legal professionals filed early Thursday after difficult a Twitter declare that they could not be made public as a result of they contained delicate info. Several of the “public versions” of these Twitter paperwork comprise wholesale redactions and are virtually fully blacked out. The paperwork containing the Musk and Agrawal texts, against this, weren’t.

The assortment of textual content messages additionally contains Musk’s conversations with Jack Dorsey, a Twitter co-founder and former CEO. Dorsey was keen about Musk’s involvement, telling him that whereas the board was “terrible,” Agrawal was an “incredible engineer.”

The texts additionally embody Musk’s opinions on Twitter with a number of individuals in his orbit, together with podcaster Joe Rogan, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, enterprise capitalists and Musk’s personal brother.

While the legal professionals tussle over which paperwork will probably be allowed as trial proof, extra witnesses are exhibiting up for depositions.

Among these deposed Thursday was whistleblower Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, a former Twitter safety chief who testified to Congress earlier this month about what he described as Twitter’s weak cyber defenses. Musk’s authorized crew hopes Zatko’s information about Twitter’s issues with pretend and spam accounts will bolster Musk’s key argument for terminating the deal.

Musk could possibly be deposed as early as subsequent week.