Elon Musk revived his bid for Twitter at the original offer price of $54.20 a share, potentially avoiding a courtroom fight over one of the most contentious acquisitions in recent history.
Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. Shares in Twitter climbed as much as 18% on the news, and trading has since been halted. Musk and representatives for San Francisco-based Twitter didn’t respond to requests for comment on the letter or whether the company would accept the proposal.
Musk had been trying for months to back out of his contract to acquire Twitter, signed in April. The billionaire began showing signs of buyer’s remorse shortly after the deal was announced, alleging that Twitter had misled him about the size of its user base and the prevalence of automated accounts known as bots.
In the weeks-long run-up to the Delaware showdown, lawyers for both sides have fired cannonades of subpoenas at each other aimed at teasing out testimony and evidence. Musk’s side needed to demonstrate that Twitter violated the terms of the deal. Twitter alleged that Musk used the bots issue as a pretext for backing out a deal he no longer found economically sound.
Inside Twitter on Tuesday, many employees were sitting through 2023 planning presentations when the news first started to circulate, according to multiple sources. Presenters did not acknowledge the news, which staffers saw spreading on their own social network. Many employees have opposed the idea of working for Musk, who has been openly mocked and criticised on internal Slack channels since the deal was signed.
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