Twitter, which predicted a legal battle against Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has appointed Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz (WLRK), known as the best law firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the United States.
The lawyers Twitter hired included Leo Strine, who served as a Delaware court judge for 20 years, and William Savitt, who served in the same court for several companies against activist investors. According to Bloomberg, “Twitter has become visible in filing a complaint in the Delaware State Court.”
WLRK is a New York law firm with over 50 years of history since 1965. Martin Lipton, one of the co-founders of WLRK, is famous for devising a so-called ‘poison feel’ strategy in the early 1980s to deter hostile mergers and acquisitions by issuing new stock purchase options to existing shareholders.
Musk announced on the 8th that it would terminate the contract to acquire Twitter for $44 billion on the grounds that “Twitter did not provide information about fake accounts in good faith.”
Twitter Chairman Brett Taylor immediately protested, saying, “We will file a lawsuit through the Delaware state court to ensure Musk cannot arbitrarily terminate the contract.”
Musk reportedly appointed Queen Emanuel Quarter & Sullivan (QEUS) to respond to Twitter. The law firm took charge of Musk’s side in the defamation case of the so-called ‘pedo guy’ four years ago.
The ‘pedo guy’ incident stems from a dispute between CEO Musk and British diver Vernon Unsworth on social media. Musk said he would send a ‘small submarine’ to rescue youth soccer players after an incident in which youth soccer players were isolated at the Tamluang Cave in Thailand in 2018.
When Unsworth, who participated in the rescue operation, said in an interview, “It’s stupid for publicity,” Musk mocked him by calling him a ‘pedo guy’ on social media. Unsworth sued Musk for defamation the following year, but the following year, Musk was acquitted.
