Elon Musk reverses, offers to purchase Twitter at original price
Elon Musk has changed his mind about purchasing Twitter again, sending a proposal letter overnight that offers to buy the social media platform for the original price offer of 54.20 per share. The proposal comes weeks before the two meet for trial in October.
The Tesla CEO made a deal earlier this year to buy Twitter for $44 billion, but has for months been trying to back out, arguing Twitter had undercounted the number of "spam bots" on the platform and citing misconduct allegations. Since then, "Twitter sued to force Musk to abide by the deal," writes NPR, and the trial was set to begin in less than two weeks. "It's now up to the company to accept Musk's renewed offer or force the billionaire to go to court in an effort to seal the deal," reports NPR.
Bloomberg reports that Twitter shares have jumped 18 percent after the news of Musk's reversal, the highest levels since Twitter halted trading.
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Axios believes that Musk had begun to lose his confidence about the trial after "having already experienced a series of procedural losses in Delaware Chancery Court."
Twitter is considering the proposal but "will not act for at least another day," writes The Washington Post.
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