It seems Elon Musk is once again buying Twitter.
According to sourcesclose to the negotiations, Musk is now willing to honor the original deal to acquire Twitter for $54.20 a share, valuing Twitter at $44 billion.
This latest decision from Musk comes after the billionaire announced he would buythe social media platform in April and then proceeded to try to back outof the binding agreement in July. Twitter sued Musk for breaching the deal and the two sides were set to meet in court this month.
However, Twitter has not outright accepted the offer, which was drafted on Monday and sent to the company overnight. There is "distrust" on both sides so Twitter is proceeding cautiously with the proposal.
What caused Musk's change of heart? While it's unclear as of now, frankly, Musk was going to end up paying out a lot of money in court to try and squash this legally binding agreement. If he was going to pay anyway, perhaps Musk thought he might as well get the company in the process.
As an added bonus for Musk, his text messages about the deal will no longer be made public if the case is settled. Last week, a selection of Musk's private texts were made available as part of the lawsuit. Some texts were quite embarrassing for not only Musk, but the tech executives, venture capitalists, and celebrities he was texting with. More of these revealing texts would undoubtedly come out as the court battle continued.
SEE ALSO:In Elon Musk's world, it seems Twitter bots are always to blameMusk does have a habit of talking a big game and failing to deliver, so we will know very soon if this latest offer is sincere. And Twitter can still decide to pass if the company doesn't believe he's serious. But, if the deal does finalize, sources say Musk could own Twitter as soon as the end of this month.
TopicsTwitterElon Musk
增山裕纪
刘雪芳
陈辉权
