Elon Musk has offered to proceed with the Twitter deal at a price of $54.20 per share, two people familiar with the negotiations said, a stunning development weeks before the two sides were due to face off in a trial over Musk attempting to back out of the deal.
In a letter Musk’s side sent to Twitter overnight, he proposed closing the deal and ending all litigation, one of the people said.
Twitter is considering whether to accept the proposal, and will not act for at least another day, according to one of the people. Because there is great distrust on both sides, Twitter leaders are questioning whether the letter represents a legal maneuvering, this person said.
The offer comes after months of legal wrangling between the billionaire and the social media company following Musk’s to terminate his planned $44 billion purchase of Twitter. Twitter took Elon to court to force him to go through with the deal.
The billionaire CEO of Tesla took a large stake in Twitter this spring, and launched a hostile takeover for control of Twitter in April. The company first seemed hesitant to accept his offer, but eventually acquiesced.