Elon Musk agrees $44 billion takeover deal of Twitter despite previous u-turn

4 October 2022, 20:45 | Updated: 4 October 2022, 23:10

Elon Musk has confirmed that he will go ahead with his planned purchase of Twitter for $44 billion.

The billionaire agreed a takeover deal in April - but pulled out in the summer, claiming there were too many bots operating on the platform.

Both sides have since been embroiled in a legal battle, with Twitter having sued Mr Musk to force the takeover to move forward.

The website said in a statement that it planned to agree to the offer at 54.20 dollars (£47.23) per share, the same price Mr Musk previously put forward.

A spokesperson for Twitter said: "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 dollars per share."

Twitter's stock surged 22.2% to 52 dollars (£45.31) after the announcement.

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Earlier this year, the SpaceX founder offered to purchase the company but pulled out in July.

Lawyers for Mr Musk said it was due to the platform "not complying with its contractual obligations" surrounding the deal, namely giving him enough information to "make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter's platform".

In a letter to the firm, attorneys for Mr Musk said he intended to move ahead with the price he offered months ago to complete the transaction, pending receipt of the financing, and asked to end the legal fight.

The stalled takeover was due to head to trial in the US later this month.