The South African tycoon and director of the electric car company Tesla, Elon Musk, renewed his proposal to buy the social network Twitter at the original offer price of US$ 54.20 per share, equivalent to some US$ 44,000 million, in order to avoid a trial for the failed acquisition that he attempted at the end of last April.
Musk sought for months to cancel his contract to acquire Twitter, arguing that the company had misled him about the size of its user base and the prevalence of automated accounts known as bots.
He formally waived the deal in July, and Twitter sued him in Delaware Chancery Court to force him to go ahead with the purchase, a trial that is scheduled to begin Oct. 17 but could be dismissed as the rocket company founder backs down. space x
The actions on Twitter they closed at 52 dollars, with a rise of 22.24% compared to the day beforefollowing news that Musk had renewed the proposal in a letter, confirmed sources who asked not to be identified for discussing confidential information with Bloomberg.
In the weeks leading up to the Delaware showdown, Musk’s lawyers needed to prove that Twitter violated the terms of the deal, with Twitter alleging that the tycoon used the bot problem as a pretext to pull out of a deal it no longer found financially sound.
However, Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick repeatedly sided with Twitter in pre-trial rulings, according to a person familiar, and there were concerns that Musk’s side could not show material adverse effect, the required legal standard. to get out of the contract.
This would have made Musk reconsider returning to the original offer and avoiding a ruling unfavorable to his interests, which would bring him higher costs.
Twitter shareholders they voted on September 13 to accept the purchase offer as presented by Musk, an option supported by 98.6% of the votes cast.
Millionaire also in followers
With more than 82 million followersthe richest man in the world – Forbes estimated his fortune at 269,000 million dollars – uses his Twitter account almost daily to give news about his companies, joke and even launch provocations.
Musk had promised in April to transform the social network into “the platform for freedom of expression around the world”, without detailing the changes he planned to apply, with the exception of some functions such as a button to “modify” a tweet after post it.
“Freedom of expression is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital plaza where issues vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in the company’s statement at the time.
He added: “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by improving the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has a huge potential and the user community to unlock it.
