Elon Musk’s on-again, off-again Twitter acquisition is on again, it appears. After spending months trying to walk away from a merger agreement he signed in April, the Tesla CEO has proposed to buy the social media company at the originally agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share, or $44 billion total, Bloomberg reported today (Oct. 4).
The news sent Twitter stock to surge more than 18 percent shortly after noon before trading was halted. Twitter shares are currently trading at $47.93, about 11 percent below the price at which Musk reportedly proposed to buy the company.
Musk made his latest offer in a letter to Twitter, according to Bloomberg, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the deal. Twitter disclosed the letter, sent on Oct. 3, in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing today.
In the letter, Musk’s lawyers said the Tesla CEO intends to proceed with the merger provided that the Delaware Chancery Court “enter an immediate stay” of the ongoing lawsuits between Musk and Twitter and adjourn the trial scheduled to start on Oct. 17, according to the filing.
Musk and Twitter’s board signed a merger agreement in April. By July, Musk had changed his mind, alleging that Twitter misled him about the number of fake users on the social media platform. Twitter in response sued Musk for contract breach, which led Musk to bring a countersuit against Twitter for not providing him with enough information regarding its user count.
