Elon Musk and his team of advisors sent a letter to Twitter Inc’s TWTR litigation staff Monday stating Musk would like to proceed with the acquisition of Twitter at $54.20 per share, or $44 billion, according to a 13D filing Musk made Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The letter predicates the offer upon the Delaware Chancery Court entering an immediate stay in the lawsuit Twitter filed against Musk after he backed out of the deal in July, citing concerns such as misrepresentation of the number of spam accounts on the platform.
Twitter said it received Musk's letter and intends to close the deal at the $54.20 price, according to Bloomberg.
The case is scheduled to go to trial Oct. 17.
Twitter Gains 22% After Resuming Trading: Judge Kathaleen McCormick has requested that Musk and Twitter return with a plan by the end of Tuesday that would allow for the lawsuit to be dropped, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Twitter shares were halted Tuesday afternoon following the first report of the letter from Bloomberg, which cited sources familiar with the situation.
The stock resumed trading following the 13D filing by Musk that confirmed the report and ended Tuesday's session 22.09% higher at $52.
The Legal Backdrop: With Musk reversing course and offering to buy Twitter again at the original price, both parties could escape a courtroom battle that is half a year in the making that has seen a swath of high profile Silicon Valley figures including Larry Ellison, Chamath Palihapitiya and Marc Andreessen subpoenaed on Musk’s behalf.
Musk's initial financing package for Twitter included $13 billion in loans from a variety of banks, including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp, Barclays Plc Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., and others, in addition to $21 billion in cash and $12.5 billion in margin loans secured against his 16% stake in Tesla Inc TSLA.
TWTR, TSLA Price Action: Shares of Twitter jumped 22.24% to close at $52 Tuesday, while shares of Tesla gained 2.9% to settle at $249.44.
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