In a surprise U-turn, billionaire Elon Musk recently announced that he was willing to buy Twitter again and would go ahead with his takeover of the social media platform.
In a letter sent to Twitter, Musk said he was willing to pay the price he offered earlier before trying to quit the deal. Musk tried to get out of the deal for months leading to Twitter filing a lawsuit against the billionaire in July to force him to go through the $44 billion deal. The reversal in the decision could bring an end to the legal fight.
Twitter is yet to accept his new proposal. The social media platform plans to add conditions to the deal to ensure that Musk does not try to quit the deal again, The New York Times reported.
In a statement, Twitter said they had received Musk’s letter and said the company’s intention was to close the deal.
However, the company may ask the court in Delaware, where it filed the lawsuit against Musk, for protections that would force the billionaire to go through the deal, the daily reported quoting three people familiar with Twitter’s plans. The company may also ask Musk to pay interest on the deal price due to the delay in completing the acquisition, one of them said.
ALSO READ:
How it all unfolded
In April 2022, Musk purchased a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, following which the social media company offered him a seat on the company’s board of directors. After accepting the offer initially, Musk changed his mind because it would prevent him from acquiring a stake larger than 14.9 percent. He would also have to stop his criticism of the social media platform, which he often resorted to. Soon, Musk announced his decision to buy the company in a deal valued at $44 billion.
He later accused Twitter of not giving him adequate information about the number of spam bots on the platform. He wanted to back out of the deal due to concerns about the number of fake accounts on the platform, which he believed was higher than what Twitter claimed. Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk demanding he close the deal, which is scheduled to go on trial on October 17.
The ugly fight between Musk and Twitter saw lengthy court filings, private messages and even bitter public spats on the social media platform. In one such exchange, Musk responded to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal’s post on spam accounts with a poop emoji.
Why Musk changed his mind
With Musk moving back and forth with the Twitter deal, there has been a sharp downturn in the value of technology stocks and the electric car company Tesla owned by Musk, BBC reported.
If the deal comes through, both companies will be able to avoid a messy trial which has revealed some embarrassing messages regarding the deal.
Musk is likely facing “a very unpleasant deposition” in the case, The Verge quoted Eric Talley, a law professor at Columbia University, as saying. The trial could reveal some “extremely inconsistent statements” that could lead to more legal issues, Talley said. For now, the trial will take place on October 17 and depositions will continue unless there is the deal is definitively done by that date.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
