Elon Musk offered to push through with his buyout of Twitter at the original agreed price, as a trial over his efforts to withdraw from the deal loomed.
The world’s richest man said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he sent Twitter a letter vowing to honour the contract.
The latest twist in the long-running saga came ahead of the high-stakes court battle launched by Twitter in an attempt to hold the Tesla chief to the deal he signed in April. Musk’s potential stewardship of the influential social media site has sparked worry from activists who fear he could open the gates to more abusive and misinformative posts.
“We write to notify you that the Musk Parties intend to proceed to closing of the transaction,” read a copy of the letter to Twitter filed with the SEC. Twitter confirmed to AFP that it received the letter from Musk, and said it intends to close the buyout deal at the agreed-on price of $54.20 per share.
Conditions noted in Musk’s letter included that the court halt action in the lawsuit against him. He had been slated to be questioned under oath by Twitter attorneys later this week.
The 51-year-old tweeted that buying Twitter “is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app,” offering no details.
During an annual shareholders meeting in August, Musk said Twitter could add momentum to a vision he had for the X.com company he founded in 1999. X.com merged with Confinity, whose co-founders include Peter Thiel, and the entity went on to become PayPal.
“I do sort of have a grander vision for what I thought X.com, or X corporation, could have been back in the day,” Musk said at the shareholder meeting.
“I think Twitter would help accelerate that by three to five years. Musk said in July he was cancelling the purchase because he was misled by Twitter concerning the number of fake “bot” accounts, allegations rejected by the company.
Twitter meanwhile has sought to prove Musk was contriving excuses to walk away because he changed his mind. In July, a Delaware judge agreed to fast-track a trial on Twitter’s allegations.
Source: eNCA
