By Adam 
Topline
Twitter brought another eccentric billionaire into the fold in its lawsuit against Elon Musk, subpoenaing Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison—the largest outside financial backer of Musk’s embattled deal to take over the social media company—according to court filings seen by Bloomberg.
Larry Ellison, Oracle’s cofounder and founder, contributed $1B to Elon Musk’s Twitter bid in January.
The Key Facts
Ellison was subpoenaed as part of Twitter’s lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court over Musk backing out of his purchase of the social media company.
A long-time Musk ally and a Tesla board member from 2018 to this year, Ellison pledged $1 billion to the Tesla CEO’s $44 billion Twitter bid in May through his Lawrence J. Ellison Revocable Trust.
Bloomberg reported that Twitter had subpoenaed an official in this trust as part of the lawsuit.
Twitter and Ellison representatives did not respond immediately to our inquiries. SME’ request for comment.
Important Background
After a long, very public flirtation, Twitter accepted Musk’s bid to take the company private in April. Musk submitted paperwork to withdraw from the deal on July 8, claiming that Twitter did not have accurate information about how many spam accounts were present. This claim was denied by Twitter. Twitter argues that Musk’s withdrawal was in “bad faith,” and wants a Delaware judge to force Musk to close the deal.
SME Valuation
Ellison’s estimated net worth is $105.8billion, which makes him sixth wealthiest person on the planet. Ellison has 15 million shares in Tesla (a 1.5% stake), which is worth $1.3billion. Meanwhile, Musk’s estimated $266.3 billion fortune is the largest in the world.
Keep an eye out for these things
Twitter and Musk’s trial will start on October 17, and run for five days. The case promises drama, and Bill Savitt, Twitter’s top lawyer in the case, called Musk a “liar looking to conjure an exit ramp for a deal that doesn’t have one” during a virtual hearing setting the trial date last month.
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The Twitter Bid Wins for a Quick Trial in Elon Musk’s LawsuitSME)
Twitter Subpoenas Larry Ellison in Musk Buyout Battle
Larry Ellison gave Elon Musk $1 billion for Twitter (The Verge).
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