Elon Musk and Twitter are still wrangling over key deposition dates less than three weeks before they go to court in Delaware over their contentious $44 billion buyout deal, The Post has learned.
A Tuesday court filing indicated Musk would be deposed by Twitter’s lawyers on Oct. 6 and 7 — just 10 days before the trial kicks off. That would give attorneys for both sides an almost unprecedentedly short window of time to prepare for court, according to legal experts.
Despite the urgency, two sources familiar with the matter said the timing for Musk’s deposition remains up in the air. The late-hour negotiations come as Wall Street watches closely for any sign of a potential settlement ahead of the trial, which is slated to kick off Oct. 17.
“The Elon date for October is still a proposal,” one of the sources said. “Not confirmed yet. Sides still negotiating when and where it will be.”
Likewise, it’s unclear when Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal will be deposed after he abruptly withdrew from a scheduled deposition on Monday due to unspecified personal reasons, the sources said. Musk’s team has been insistent about interviewing Agrawal in person, sources said.
Previously, court filings had indicated that both Musk and Agrawal would be deposed on Monday of this week. Since Musk and Agrawal’s depositions had initially been penciled-in for the same day, it’s possible that Twitter will not want Agrawal to testify significantly before Musk.
Agrawal earlier planned to push the deposition to sometime later this week, a source familiar with the matter said, but a specific date has still not been set. The two sides discussed Agrawal’s deposition privately with Delaware Court of Chancery Judge Kathaleen McCormick on Tuesday, one of the sources said.
Twitter and Musk declined to comment.
The latest wrangling over deposition dates is feeding the rumor mill ahead of the trial.
When news broke that neither would be deposed on Monday, a flurry of speculation about a potential settlement briefly sent Twitter’s share price soaring. After The Post reported that no settlement was imminent, Twitter shares tanked.
A hedge fund analyst closely following the case pointed out that Musk and Twitter are currently scheduled to exchange lists of witnesses on Oct. 5 — one day before Musk’s deposition would begin under the recently proposed dates.
“Doing a deposition after [exchanging witness lists] is super unusual,” the analyst said. “That said, it could just be scheduling issues still. One theory is it’s settlement talks, but maybe Elon and the lawyers are just unavailable sooner.”
One of the sources familiar with the matter predicted that both Musk and Agrawal’s depositions are still going to happen.
“There’s still plenty of time to get the depositions done,” the source said.
