By Emmanuel Nduka
On Tuesday, shares in Twitter were suspended following a report that Elon Musk has offered to push ahead with the $44bn acquisition of the platform after performing a dramatic U-turn on his decision to walk away from the deal.
According to Bloomberg, the Tesla CEO had made an offer to buy the business for the original deal price of $54.20 a share in a letter to Twitter. Shares in the social media site climbed more than 12% to $47.93 in New York before trading was halted.
Heritage Times HT had reported that Musk had been set for a legal battle with Twitter on October 17, with multiple legal commentators warning he had a slim chance of succeeding in his attempt to scrap the deal.
Twitter has been demanding that Musk, the world’s richest man, complete the deal under terms agreed in April. It is suing him in Delaware, the state where Twitter is incorporated and with a strong legal reputation for enforcing merger agreements.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Musk had made the proposal to Twitter’s lawyers overnight on Monday and had filed a letter with the Delaware chancery court before an emergency hearing on the deal on Tuesday.
