Elon Musk subpoenas former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in takeover dispute

Elon Musk has subpoenaed his friend and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as part of an effort to back out of his $44bn agreement to acquire the social media platform.

The subpoena was revealed in a court document on Monday.

Twitter and Musk are headed for a 17 October trial in Delaware that should determine whether or not the company can force him to go through with the acquisition.

In recent weeks, Twitter has subpoenaed a host of tech investors and entrepreneurs connected to Musk, including the prominent venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and David Sacks, the founding chief operating officer of PayPal.

Last week, a judge ruled that Twitter must give Musk documents from a former Twitter executive, who Musk said was a key figure in calculating the number of fake accounts on the platform. Twitter was ordered to collect, review and produce documents from former general manager of consumer product Kayvon Beykpour, according to the order from the Delaware court of chancery.