Elon Musk Makes U-Turn, Agrees to Buy Twitter at Original $44bn Price

Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla Inc., has offered to purchase Twitter for the initial offer price of $44 billion.

In a filing on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk made the offer in a letter to Twitter.

The development comes ahead of a court trial between Musk and Twitter in Delaware’s court of chancery on October 17, in which the social media company was set to hold Musk to his $44 billion takeover bid.

“On behalf of X Holdings I, Inc., X Holdings II, Inc. and Elon R. Musk (the “Musk Parties”), we write to notify you that the Musk Parties intend to proceed to closing of the transaction contemplated by the April 25, 2022 Merger Agreement, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein and pending receipt of the proceeds of the debt financing contemplated thereby, provided that the Delaware Chancery Court enter an immediate stay of the action, Twitter vs. Musk, et al. (C.A. No. 202-0613-KSJM) (the “Action”) and adjourn the trial and all other proceedings related thereto pending such closing or further order of the Court,” the letter reads.

“The Musk Parties provide this notice without admission of liability and without waiver of or prejudice to any of their rights, including their right to assert the defenses and counterclaims pending in the Action, including in the event the Action is not stayed, Twitter fails or refuses to comply with its obligations under the April 25, 2022 Merger Agreement or if the transaction contemplated thereby otherwise fails to close.”

Twitter also acknowledged receiving Musk’s letter.

“We received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC. The intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share,” the company said.

In April, the billionaire had clinched a deal to acquire Twitter for $54.20 per share, amounting to $44 billion.

But after several internal turmoils on the buyout, Musk decided to soft-pedal on his acquisition bid, accusing Twitter of misleading investors about its number of daily active users.

He said the deal “could not move forward” until Twitter proved its claim that less than 5 percent of users are bots or spam accounts.

Trading in Twitter shares was halted as the stock rose following the spread of news of Musk’s latest proposal, according to a report by Bloomberg.

It added that the shares rose as much as 18 percent before trading was paused.

Commenting on the fresh proposal in a Twitter post on Tuesday, Dan Ives, Wedbush managing director said: “Writing was on the wall he could not win in Delaware and this saves both sides a long and ugly court battle ahead”.

“Musk will now own the Twitter platform as an end to this saga and soap opera that began in April.”