Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Twitter have announced plans to move forward with Musk’s purchase of the company, following months of attempts by Musk to escape a deal first brokered in April.
When the deal is finalized, Musk will take Twitter private at $54.20 per share, matching the initial offer made in April, for a grand total of approximately $44 billion dollars, according to a Tuesday letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The announcement follows months of attempts by Musk to get out of the deal, citing a lack of transparency by Twitter, particularly regarding bots and other difficulties within the company, and comes just two weeks before an Oct. 17 trial was slated to determine the fate of the takeover attempt.
Musk has taken particular issue with the prevelance of inauthentic, automated or spam accounts, commonly referred to as “bots,” on Twitter’s platform, something that former Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed was one of the challenges to a proposed purchase attempt by Disney. Musk filed two letters with the SEC, one in July and one in August, attempting to terminate the deal on these grounds, launching a lawsuit set for Oct. 17 to force Musk to complete the purchase.
Twitter issued this statement about today’s news: We received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC. The intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share.
— Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR) October 4, 2022
Musk has has taken issue with Twitter’s management, especially following a bombshell series of allegations by whistleblower and former former Chief Security Officer Peter Zatko, who claimed the company was misleadingn regulators about foreign agents and customer’s data privacy. Twitter has claimed that Zatko’s report was “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies,” and executives have claimed that Musk’s arguments about bots were merely a way to escape a deal he viewed as unprofitable.
Twitter shares jumped more than 12%, up to around $48 per share, immediately following the news breaking on Twitter, according to Google Finance. Trading of Twitter shares was temporarily suspended soon after the surge, according to Reuters.
Musk’s lawyers did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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