Steph Deschamps / October 5, 2022
U.S. multi-billionaire Elon Musk has finally offered to buy the social network from Twitter at the price agreed in April, two weeks before the expected trial between the two parties on this eventful acquisition.
The Tesla boss "intends to complete the transaction contemplated by the purchase agreement of April 25, 2022", according to the terms, wrote his lawyers in a letter addressed to the Californian group on Monday, and filed Tuesday with the U.S. securities regulator, the SEC.
The only condition expressed in the letter: the end of legal proceedings pending before the specialized court of Delaware.
Twitter's stock rose more than 22% on the New York Stock Exchange. It had previously been suspended all afternoon "pending information", after an article from the agency Bloomberg revealing this rebound.
Elon Musk had proposed in the spring to acquire the platform for $54.20 per share, valuing it at $44 billion. The board of directors of the social network, initially very reluctant, had finally accepted.
The contractor had unilaterally reneged on this agreement in July. The group with the blue bird had then launched a lawsuit to force him to honor his commitment, and everything indicated that he was well positioned to win.
Tuesday, the group confirmed in a brief statement "having received the letter" and having the intention "to conclude this transaction" at the defined price.
Elon Musk had bombarded Twitter with criticism before and after the signing of the contract, accusing the platform of censoring users.
He had justified his backtracking by saying that the proportion of automated accounts on the platform was well above the 5%, the figure put forward by the company of San Francisco.
Faced with Twitter's complaint, the president of the specialized court of Delaware that had to deal with the case granted the company a quick trial, while Elon Musk wanted to wait until next year and asked for astronomical amounts of data.
The trial was supposed to take place from October 17 to 21, but it will not take place if Twitter accepts this new offer.