On Monday, Elon Musk surprised the world when he sent a letter to Twitter saying he intends to push through with his plan to buy the company.

The news was revealed in a securities filing Tuesday, in which he claimed to be buying the company at the originally agreed price of $ 54.20 per share.

The letter

Musk’s letter says the acquisition will proceed on original terms, provided the Delaware law firm stays litigation over Musk’s first attempt to exit the agreement and the lawsuit is suspended due to exposure to disputes.

A Twitter spokesperson confirmed receipt of Musk’s letter, repeating an earlier statement that the company intended to complete the transaction at a price of $54.20 per share.

“Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday.

News of the letter first surfaced on Tuesday, with reports emerging from Bloomberg.

Twitter stock

Twitter stock (TWTR) was halted twice, with the second halt being due to the pending news.

However, after trading resumed, TWTR jumped over 20% to over $51 per share.

The stock approached the trading price for the first time in months.

The trial and Musk’s messages

News of Elon Musk’s letter surfaced as both sides prepared to appear in court in two weeks over his bid to end the $44 million acquisition deal.

Twitter initially sued Musk to complete the acquisition.

Parag Agrawal, the CEO of Twitter, was reportedly deposed by Musk’s lawyers on Monday, while Twitter’s lawyers originally planned to depose Musk on Thursday.

The letter also follows the release of Musk’s personal text messages about the deal on Friday.

Reports highlighted a number of Silicon Valley insiders and billionaires who reached out to him to discuss the deal. They also offered to fund the deal.

What the acquisition could mean

The deal could end the controversial back and forth of months between Elon Musk and Twitter.

Over the months, uncertainty has clouded workers, investors, and Twitter users.

It is now up to the social media platform to determine how to respond to the proposal.

According to Josh White, assistant professor of finance at Vanderbilt University, Twitter’s board of directors is likely to accept the deal.

“The very public saga has certainly taken a toll on them and Twitter employees,” said White.

“It is best for all parties to finish the deal and make a quick and seamless transition. I suspect it will close quickly.”

Eric Tally, a professor at Columbia Law School, believes Twitter won’t drop the lawsuit until the deal is officially finalized.

He hinted that Twitter might want to continue the process in negotiations with Musk if his bid fell through again.

“Twitter is probably going to say, ‘look, we definitely want to engage you on this… But we’ve still got a trial on Oct 17, and until this is signed, sealed, and delivered, we’ve got to get ready for trial,’” said Talley.

The Elon Musk-Twitter saga

The saga between Tesla’s CEO and the social media platform began in April when Musk revealed that he had become Twitter’s largest shareholder.

In the following months, he accepted an offer to serve on Twitter’s board of directors and later retired.

Musk later threatened a hostile takeover of the company and signed a deal to take over Twitter.

After expressing concern about the bots on the platform, Musk sought to end the deal.

His action prompted Twitter to sue him for closing the deal, adding claims from a Twitter whistleblower to his argument.

Elon Musk initially tried to get out of the deal, saying the company had misrepresented the number of spam and fake bot accounts on Twitter.

Meanwhile, the company said it violated the deal and used bots as an excuse to get out of a deal after the buyer regretted the general market downturn.

Throughout the saga, Twitter continued to insist that it intended to enforce the price and terms agreed months earlier.

Legal experts have suggested that Twitter take the strongest case to court, saying Musk has the tough job of proving that the company made misleading claims in the stock request or purchase agreement.

The lawsuit was the latest obstacle to closing the deal after Twitter shareholders voted to approve the deal last month.

The deal was originally supposed to expire this month.

The saga today

When news of the potential closure of the deal emerges, attention will turn to what Musk’s control could mean for Twitter.

He previously suggested a number of changes, including the restoration of Donald Trump’s account and the lifting of permanent account bans.

Musk also hinted that he wants to make the platform more open to “free speech” and may want to change content moderation policies.

Twitter officials also expressed concern over Musk’s acquisition, focusing on perks like remote work and parental leave.

Reference:

In major reversal, Elon Musk again proposes buying Twitter at full price