Elon Musk Makes U-turn, Offers To Honour Original Agreement To Buy Twitter For $44 Billion

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made a U-turn and decided to buy Twitter.

The billionaire said he is now willing to proceed with his original plan to buy the social media platform.

In a letter to the firm, Mr Musk agreed to pay the price he offered months ago before trying to quit the deal.

The SEC filing says Musk sent a letter to Twitter on Monday, notifying the company of his intent to proceed with the transaction agreed upon on April 25, the day the deal was publicly announced.

The surprise reversal comes just weeks before the two sides were due in court, BBC reports.

Twitter, which had sued Mr Musk to force the takeover to move forward, was seen as having the better case.

Twitter shares were halted after Bloomberg reported that Musk plans to go through with his acquisition at $54.20 a share.

The stock jumped 22% after it reopened.

Elon Musk has reversed course and is again proposing to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, according to a regulatory filing. Twitter shares surged 22% to $51.83 when they reopened.

A deal could happen as soon as Friday, sources told CNBC. The stock was halted earlier in the day after Bloomberg first reported on the Tesla CEO’s plans to go forth with his deal to acquire the company.

A few weeks after Musk agreed to that deal, valuing Twitter at $44 billion, he quickly tried to back out, officially informing the company in July of his intentions to terminate the agreement. Twitter sued Musk to force him to go through with the purchase. The two sides were scheduled to go to trial in Delaware Chancery Court on Oct. 17.

Musk alleged that Twitter was misstating the number of “bots” on its service as one of the reasons he was reneging on the deal. He and his lawyers claimed the social media company was misleading investors by providing false numbers in corporate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Twitter countered, however, that Musk’s assertions of fraud were incorrect and were based on a misunderstanding of the way the company tallies bots and fake accounts on its platform.

Musk also alleged Twitter failed to provide him with the necessary data related to spam and bots, which Twitter denied.

Twitter alleged Musk was looking for a reason to back out of the deal when the company’s shares dropped alongside a broader decline in the overall market.