Pretoria-born Elon Musk is ready to proceed with buying Twitter, on condition the micro-blogging company halts its lawsuit against him.
This, as Musk, who is the richest person in the world, and Twitter are supposed to face-off in a Delaware court later this month, after the businessman made an about-turn from an initial agreement to acquire the global social networking platform.
According to Reuters, an agreement between the two would put the world’s richest person in charge of one of the most influential media platforms and end months of litigation that damaged Twitter’s brand and fed Musk’s reputation for erratic behaviour.
The new development comes after the businessman launched a surprise bid in April to privately control the micro-blogging platform, entering into a definitive agreement to acquire Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash.
The total transaction value was pegged at approximately $44 billion, but a few weeks later, Musk made a volte-face, collapsing the deal, demanding the social media company show that less than 5% of its daily active users are automated spam accounts.
Twitter responded to Musk, who is also Tesla CEO, with a lawsuit to enforce the merger agreement.
“We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery,” the company said in April.
The trial in the Delaware Chancery Court is scheduled to start on 17 October, but it seems the matter will not proceed after all, as Musk is now ready to honour the agreement.
In a letter filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk’s attorneys say: “We write to notify you that the Musk parties intend to proceed to closing of the transaction contemplated by the 25 April 2022 merger agreement, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein and pending receipt of the proceeds of the debt financing contemplated thereby, provided the Delaware Chancery Court enter an immediate stay of the action, Twitter vs Musk, et al and adjourn the trial and all other proceedings related thereto pending such closing or further order of the court.”
In response, Twitter issued a statement saying: “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.”
Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter would become a privately-held company and Musk has shared some of his plans for the platform.
“Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app,” Musk wrote on the micro-blogging platform.
The issue of spam bots and free speech on Twitter have been some of the top priorities for Musk from the time the takeover deal was made public.
Bots are automated accounts, and their use can lead to overestimations of how many humans are on the service, which is important for advertising rates and the overall value of the service.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” said Musk in April.
“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”