Twitter has accepted the deal from Elon Musk to buy the Big Tech giant at $54.20 a share, working out around $44 billion in total.
The South-African born billionaire initially agreed to buy Twitter in April this year, after weeks of criticising the platform for anti-free speech behaviour, and other failings. Musk attacked the principle of permanent bans on Twitter, and argued that 45th President Donald Trump should be reinstated.
However, the deal came to a screeching halt just a month later, when Musk revealed that the deal was “on pause,” revealing he was concerned over the levels of spam-bot activity.
After a further examination, Musk attempted to terminate the merger agreement, alleging that Twitter had made “false and misleading representations” about fake and spam accounts on the platform. As a result, Twitter sued Musk to force the acquisition through in July.
However, two weeks before a court date set in Delaware for the lawsuit, Musk’s legal counsel revealed that they now wish to move ahead with the original deal, and wanted to end the legal battle.
“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,” the notice filed in the Delaware Chancery Court reads.
In a statement, Twitter confirmed receipt of the letter, which was also filed with the SEC, and said that they also intended to close the sale at the original price of $54.20 a share. Before rumours emerged of a deal, Twitter shares were trading at $43 on Tuesday morning.
Twitter issued this statement about today's news: 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.
— Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR) October 4, 2022
The news about the deal going through comes just days after messages between Musk and Twitter’s CEO, Parag Agrawal, were published in a court filing for the case, revealing how their initially cordial relationship had turned sour.
