Musk offers to end legal fight and pay 44bn dollars to buy Twitter

Elon Musk is abandoning his legal battle to back out of buying Twitter by offering to go through with his original 44 billion US dollar (£38bn) bid for the social media platform.

The Tesla CEO made the offer in a letter to Twitter, which the company disclosed in a filing on Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The offer comes just two weeks before Twitter’s lawsuit seeking to force Mr Musk to go through with the deal goes to trial in Delaware Chancery Court.

In a statement, Twitter said it intends to close the transaction at 54.20 dollars per share after receiving the letter from Mr Musk.

Trading in Twitter’s stock, which had been halted for much of the day pending release of the news, resumed trading late on Tuesday and soared almost 22% to 51.80 dollars.

Mr Musk’s proposal is the latest twist in a high-profile saga involving the world’s richest man and one of the most influential social media platforms.

Much of the drama has played out on Twitter itself, with Mr Musk — who has more than 100 million followers — lamenting that the company was failing to live up to its potential as a platform for free speech.

A letter from Mr Musk’s lawyer dated on Monday and disclosed by Twitter in a securities filing said Mr Musk would close the merger signed in April provided that the Delaware Chancery Court “enter an immediate stay” of Twitter’s lawsuit against him and adjourn the trial scheduled to begin in two weeks.