Elon Musk has sent a letter to Twitter offering to buy the company at the price he originally proposed: $US54.20 ($75) per share, according to a report from Bloomberg. The Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post also backed up Bloomberg’s report. He’s been trying to wriggle out of the agreement for months and was set to be deposed on Thursday and Friday in advance of an Oct. 17 trial.
Trading of Twitter stock was halted on Tuesday afternoon, following a major and rapid value spike after the publication of the Bloomberg article. As of writing, share prices had peaked at $US49.85 ($69), still far less than the promised Musk purchase price. Shares are now frozen at $US47.93 ($67).
According to the Wall Street Journal, an emergency hearing regarding the confidential letter, filed with the Delaware court, has been scheduled for today. Many Twitter employees reportedly received the news while in a meeting about the company’s 2023 strategy.
The Tesla CEO has been trying to back out of his $US44 ($61) billion acquisition of the social media site basically since the deal began. Musk has repeatedly claimed that the number of bots on the platform, and Twitter’s management and tally of those bots, is in violation of the purchase contract. In response, Twitter sued Musk in Delaware’s Court of Chancery — the nation’s premier business dispute court.
Musk was scheduled to be deposed Thursday and Friday in the ongoing Twitter legal fight, after his deposition was delayed. Yet, if the deal now goes through, the billionaire won’t have to give any further testimony or endure legal questioning. Texts between Musk and his rich and famous friends were released Friday.
And, if the deal goes through, it will clearly be a marvel of negotiation. Musk will have spent months sewing chaos and turmoil at Twitter, and posturing about bots, all to simply agree to the initial contract terms.