Billionaire Elon Musk has changed his mind about buying Twitter yet again.
Musk’s lawyer Mike Ringler on Monday sent a letter to Twitter stating that the billionaire intends to move forward with purchasing the company for the original offer price of $54.20 per share. Musk tried to back out of the $44 billion deal, prompting Twitter to sue the billionaire in July to enforce the deal. The unexpected move could be a sign that Twitter and Musk are moving closer to resolving their legal dispute. Closing the deal could also help Twitter and Musk avoid a messy five-day trial that’s scheduled to take place in the Delaware Chancery Court on Oct. 17.
Musk’s hesitancy about purchasing Twitter has created uncertainty about the social network’s future. Musk has floated several ideas about changes he wants to make at Twitter, such as combatting cryptocurrency scams and tweaking the company’s content moderation policies. But Twitter employees and advocacy groups have raised concerns that changes he’ll make will harm users who are dealing with harassment and hate speech on the platform. Musk has also said publicly he would reverse former US President Donald Trump’s ban from the platform. Twitter and other social networks barred Trump from their services because of the risk of inciting violence after the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot.
Twitter spokesman Brenden Lee said the company has received the letter from Musk’s lawyers. “The intention of the Company is to close the transaction at $54.20 per share,” Lee said in a statement. Ringler didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bloomberg, which first reported news of the proposal, reported that Musk’s legal team got the sense from the pretrial rulings that the case was not going well. The Washington Post, citing a person familiar with the negotiations, reported that Twitter is considering Musk’s proposal and doesn’t plan to act for at least another day. Since Musk has changed his mind several times, distrust has built up between Twitter and the billionaire.
Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share in April but tried to back out of the agreement in July. Twitter then sued Musk, alleging in a lawsuit that the reason why the Tesla and SpaceX leader didn’t want to buy the social network anymore is because his personal wealth has fallen. Musk, on the other hand, accused Twitter of misrepresenting or omitting information, including about the number of fake and spam accounts on its platform.
Twitter’s battle with Musk has been filled with unexpected twists. Twitter’s former head of security Peiter “Mudge” Zatko filed a whistleblower complaint against the social media company, alleging that the platform prioritized making more money over user security. As part of the whistleblower complaint, Zatko also accused Twitter of lying to Musk about the number of spam bots on its platform. Twitter pushed back against the allegations, saying they were “riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and [lack] important context.”
Musk said in a tweet on Tuesday that “Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app.”
It’s unclear what Musk means by an “everything app.” In August, a Twitter user also asked if Musk thought about creating his own social media platform if the Twitter deal didn’t go through. “X.com,” Musk responded in a tweet.