Report: Musk proposes going ahead with deal to buy Twitter

Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk pictured in March 2020. There are reports that Musk will proceed with his US$44bn buy out of Twitter after months of legal battles. Photo / AP

Trading in shares of Twitter was halted after the stock spiked on reports that Elon Musk would proceed with his US$44 billion ($77bn) deal to buy the company after months of legal battles.

Musk offered to buy the San Francisco company at US$54.20. Shares jumped nearly 13 per cent to US$47.95 before trading stopped.

Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter, according to people familiar with the case who were not identified.

Musk has been trying to back out of the deal for several months after signing on to buy the social media platform in April. Shareholders have already approved the sale. Musk claimed that Twitter under-counted the number of fake accounts on its platform, and Twitter sued when Musk announced the deal was off.

Neither Twitter nor lawyers for Musk responded to messages seeking comment on Tuesday.

The trial seeking to compel Musk to buy Twitter is set to start in Delaware Chancery Court on October 17.

Musk's argument for walking away from the deal — has largely rested on the allegation that Twitter misrepresented how it measures the magnitude of "spam bot" accounts that are useless to advertisers. But most legal experts believed he faced an uphill battle in convincing Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick, the court's head judge, that something changed since the April merger agreement that justifies terminating the deal.

- AP