Twitter plans to finally close a deal with Elon Musk after the billionaire sent a letter proposing to buy the social-media company for his original offer price of $54.20 a share, after spending months trying to back out of the initial deal, according to a new report.
Sources told Bloomberg News Musk has offered to buy Twitter, just weeks before he was set to appear in court to fight a lawsuit the company filed over his efforts to pull out of the $44 billion deal. Twitter said it plans to close the deal, the Associated Press reported.
Twitter’s stock price briefly shot up as high as 18 percent on the news before trading was suspended.
Musk first began trying to pull the plug on the deal in July.
The company argued in its lawsuit that Musk had refused to “honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests,” according to the complaint.
A regulatory filing from attorney Mike Ringler on behalf of Musk argued months ago that Twitter is “in material breach of multiple provisions” of their April 25 merger agreement, and “appears to have made false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when” agreeing to purchase the company.
Musk had claimed Twitter was undercounting fake “bot” accounts, which he said was information that is “fundamental to Twitter’s business and financial performance.”
Musk sent a third letter to the company in early September attempting to terminate the deal. In the letter, attorneys for Musk argued that an alleged $7.75 million severance payment Twitter made to its former head of security violated a provision of the acquisition contract.
Days later, Twitter shareholders voted in favor of carrying out Musk’s acquisition of the company, signaling intent to move forward with the deal.