By Leah Montebello
Twitter shares have been suspended as Elon Musk is set to go ahead with his offer of $54.20 a share.
The social media platform confirmed to City A.M. that the serial entrepreneur intended to buy Twitter for his original $44bn offer.
“We received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC,” Twitter said in a statement. “The intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share.”
Following the initial report, the social media giant’s shares surged 13 per cent to $48.
The Tesla founder was due to appear in court later this month over his attempts to pull out of the takeover deal agreed in April, which he later u-turned on in July.
Musk has previously argued that Twitter’s public disclosures about bot and fake account numbers were misleading, while Twitter argued that the fixed-price deal agreed had simply become “less attractive” to the entrepreneur as the stock market cooled.
“It’s the latest twist in the dramatic takeover saga, and comes just two days before he was set to be deposed by Twitter’s lawyers, raising speculation that ‘Team Musk’ believe the chances of the court ruling in his favour were slim,” said senior investment and markets analyst Susannah Streeter.
“If Elon Musk loses could mean he’d be forced to complete the deal or be made to pay billions or more for breach of contract.”
Twitter shares opened at $42.81 this morning, meaning that Musk is now also coughing up a hefty premium for the company.
Last month Twitter shareholders voted to approve the $44bn buy-out offer.
Twitter were not immediately available for comment on these reports.
More to follow
The post Twitter shares halted as Musk ready to buy for original price appeared first on CityAM.
