The world’s richest person, Elon Musk, has proposed to go ahead with his original offer of $44 billion to acquire Twitter.
An agreement would put Musk in charge of one of the most influential media platforms and end months of turbulent litigation that damaged Twitter’s brand and fed Musk’s reputation for erratic behaviour.
Musk, the chief executive of electric car maker Tesla, will take over a company he originally committed to buying in April, but soon soured on.
Twitter shares jumped 12.7% to $47.93 before trading was halted for the second time, while Tesla shares rose by about 2.4%.
The news comes ahead of a highly anticipated face-off between Musk and Twitter in Delaware’s Court of Chancery on October 17, in which the social media company was set to seek an order directing Musk to close the deal for $44 billion.
According to Reuters, Musk sent Twitter a letter on Monday that said he intended to proceed with the deal on the original terms if the Delaware judge stayed the proceedings.
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A source familiar with Twitter’s team disclosed that at a court hearing on Tuesday morning, the judge requested the two sides to report back in the evening.
It could not immediately be ascertained why Musk chose to abandon his fight. He was about to be deposed.
Twitter received Musk’s letter and intended to close the deal at the original $54.20 price, a spokesperson disclosed.
Elon Musk agreed in April to buy Twitter for $44 billion and within weeks said the number of bot accounts was much higher than Twitter’s estimate of less than 5% of users.
Bots are automated accounts, and their use can lead to overestimations of how many humans are on the service, which is important for advertising rates and the overall value of the service.
Musk, one of Twitter’s most prominent users, claimed in July he could walk away from the deal because Twitter misled him about the number of real users and the security of user data.
Twitter’s legal team on September 27 said documents obtained from two data scientists employed by Musk showed they estimated the number of fake accounts on the platform at 5.3% and 11%.
“None of these analyses so far as we can tell remotely supported what Mr. Musk told Twitter and told the world in the termination letter,” Twitter lawyer, Bradley Wilson, told the court.
