Elon Musk Spent A Night Texting Oracle Co-Founder Before Walking Away From Twitter Deal: Report

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk texted well into the night with Oracle Corporation ORCL co-founder Larry Ellison before putting on hold a $44 billion agreement to purchase Twitter Inc TWTR. 

What Happened: A court filing made by Twitter said that Musk exchanged multiple text messages with Ellison beginning May 12 through 12:20 a.m. on May 13, reported Insider.

The messages were reportedly exchanged nearly four hours before Musk announced he was putting the Twitter deal “temporarily on hold”.

Twitter’s letter to the Delaware Court of Chancery stated that Musk’s lawyers have not provided the relevant text messages between Musk and Ellison after Twitter subpoenaed the Tesla CEO’s messages on the deal, according to Insider.

See Also: How To Buy Tesla (TSLA) Shares

Why It Matters: Twitter sued Musk in July to force a buyout saying the entrepreneur had refused to honor his obligations.

Twitter’s lawyers seem to be weaving a case around Musk’s texts, noted Insider. They have accused Musk of “destruction of evidence,” citing a Signal screenshot of a conversation between Musk and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. Those messages were reportedly set to delete after some time.

While Andreessen's VC firm, Andreessen Horowitz, backed Musk with $400 million, Ellison was part of a group of 19 investors who committed $7.14 billion to back the Twitter buyout.

Previously, Twitter’s lawyers cited a private conversation Musk had with a banker at Morgan Stanley where he reasoned that it wouldn’t “make sense to buy” the social network if “we’re heading into a World War 3” with Russia. 

Price Action: On Monday, Twitter shares closed 0.25% higher at $276.01 in the regular session and rose 0.1% in the after-hours trading, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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