Elon Musk to go ahead with $54.20 a share Twitter deal

Washington, Oct 04: Tesla CEO Elon Musk has reportedly offered to proceed with his USD 44 billion purchase of Twitter Inc private by proposing to go ahead with USD 54.20 per share to buy the microblogging website.

The surprising turn of events in the Twitter buyout saga sent the shares of Twitter surging as it increased to 12.7 per cent before trading was stopped for the second time, Reuters reported.

Musk has been engaged in a bitter legal battle with Twitter after announcing in July this year that he was pulling the plug on his USD 44 billion purchase of the company following a complex, and months-long courtship, ANI reported.

Musk had cancelled the deal, claiming that he was misled by Twitter concerning the number of bot accounts on its platform. These allegations were forthrightly rejected by the company. The latest report on the Twitter buyout deal comes ahead of the Delaware Court hearing on October 17, where the two sides are expected to clash over the multi-billion dollar buyout deal.

"This is a clear sign that Musk recognized heading into Delaware Court that the chances of winning vs. Twitter board was highly unlikely and this USD 44 billion deal was going to be completed one way or another," Reuters quoted Wedbush analyst Dan Ives as saying.

It may be recalled that Twitter had sought an order directing Tesla CEO to complete deal at USD 54.20 per share.