Elon Musk has offered to complete his proposed $44bn acquisition of Twitter in a U-turn on his decision to abandon the deal.
Lawyers for Musk confirmed in a recent court filing that the world’s richest man is prepared to push ahead with the transaction on the agreed terms following months of legal drama.
The filing followed a report from Bloomberg that the Tesla chief executive had written to the social media platform offering to close the deal at the original price of $54.20 a share, which resulted in a temporary suspension of trading in the company’s stock as the price rocketed more than 12% in New York. The shares closed up 22.2% at $52.
Musk had been set for a courtroom showdown with Twitter on 17 October, with multiple legal commentators warning he had a slim chance of succeeding in his attempt to scrap the deal.
“We write to notify you that the Musk parties intend to proceed to close of the transaction,” read the notice, filed by Musk’s lawyers with the Delaware chancery court, which was overseeing the trial. The filing added that the adjournment of the Delaware trial and securing of debt financing were preconditions.
In response, Twitter said: “The intention of the company is to close the transaction at $54.20” – although it did not give more specific details in its response to Musk’s about-turn.
