It sure looks like Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter takeover is actually happening.
On Tuesday, representatives of the billionaire notified Twitter through a letter that he intends to move forward with the tumultuous deal.
“We write to notify you that the Musk Parties intend to proceed to closing of the transaction contemplated by the April 25, 2022 Merger Agreement, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein,” reads the notice, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
As my colleague Amanda Silberling wrote earlier today, Musk and Twitter were headed to court over the deal, with the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive claiming that Twitter had misled him over the number of bots that existed on the social network. Without providing evidence of his claims, Musk has alleged that as much as 20% of Twitter’s user base consisted of “fake/spam accounts.” Twitter has long maintained that less than 5 percent of its “monetizable daily active users”— a subset of its userbase provided as a metric for advertisers — are bots. However, it now seems that Musk no longer intends to press the issue.
Per the letter, Musk intends to move forward with the deal “provided that the Delaware Chancery Court enter an immediate stay of the action, Twitter vs. Musk, et al. and adjourn the trial and all other proceedings.” In other words, Musk is down to move forward under the condition that the lawsuit does not proceed. However, given Musk’s chaotic nature, it’s possible that another wrench could be thrown into the works.
Musk’s notice sent Twitter’s stock price rocketing more than 12%, above $47 per share.
It’s official, Elon Musk is buying Twitter by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch
“We received the letter from the Musk parties which they have filed with the SEC,” Twitter told TechCrunch in an email. “The intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share,” it added.
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