Elon Musk has revived his original offer to buy social media platform Twitter (TWTR) for $44
billion U.S. just days before he was to appear in court for cancelling the acquisition.
Musk had agreed this past spring to purchase Twitter for $54.20 U.S. a share, but then backed
out of the deal, leading to a legal battle that has made its way into the courts.
Shares of Twitter jumped 22% to $52 U.S. a share immediately after news of Musk’s revived
offer was made public.
In a statement, Twitter said it plans to close the sale to Musk at the agreed-upon price as early
as this Friday (October 7).
Musk tried for months to get out of a contract he entered to acquire Twitter.
The world’s richest person with an estimated net worth of $250 billion U.S., Musk claimed that
Twitter misled him about its number of users and the prevalence of bots on the platform.
Musk officially abandoned the deal in July and Twitter sued him in Delaware Chancery Court to
force him to honour the agreement he signed. A trial had been scheduled to start October 17.
Twitter accused Musk of using the bot issue as an excuse to quit a deal he no longer found
financially beneficial.
Twitter shareholders voted on September 13 to accept the buyout offer as Musk submitted it,
clearing a path for a quick resolution to the sale this week.
Musk owned almost 10% of Twitter and was the company’s largest shareholder when he first
agreed to acquire the company this past April.
Musk is currently the chief executive officer of electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) and privately
held satellite company SpaceX.
