In a shocking turn of events, Elon Musk has agreed to buy Twitter for the original offer price of US$54.20 a share, avoiding a costly, drawn out legal battle that he would likely lose.

Musk made the proposal in an October 3 letter to Twitter, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The letter, below, says Musk “intend[s] to proceed to closing of the transaction contemplated by the April 25, 2022, merger agreement, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth therein”, contingent on the trial being adjourned.

Twitter has confirmed it intends to close the deal at the agreed-upon price of A$67.6 billion.

 

Twitter shares jumped 22 per cent, to an even US$52 upon the news breaking.

This will hopefully bring this drawn-out saga to an end.

Musk signed an agreement to buy Twitter in April, which he formally reneged on in July, claiming that the social media giant has lied about the number of artificial accounts on its service.

Twitter sued him in Delaware Chancery Court to force him to go forward with the purchase, with the trial scheduled to begin on October 17.

Clearly Musk received counsel that he was unlikely to win the case.