New twist in the Musk-Twitter soap opera.
Elon Musk offered Twitter on Monday to buy the social network at the price agreed in April, according to press reports, two weeks before the trial between the two parties on this eventful acquisition.
The listing of the Twitter action was suspended Tuesday at the New York Stock Exchange "pending information" after a Bloomberg article which revealed this new takeover offer from the boss of Tesla.
The quotation had been suspended for the first time for five minutes, and the title had soared up to + 18%, before being stopped again, at + 12.7%.
According to the economic information agency, Elon Musk sent a letter to Twitter on Monday, offering to acquire the platform for 54.20 dollars (54.40 euros) per share, that is to say at the price that he originally proposed in the spring and the board eventually accepted.
According to CNBC, the deal could be finalized as early as Friday or Monday.
The two parties had signed a contract at the end of April, but Elon Musk unilaterally reneged on this agreement in July.
The reason ?
Twitter would not have respected certain clauses of this agreement, in particular by not communicating the real number of fake accounts.
Read alsoElon Musk gives up buying Twitter: five minutes to understand this twist
As early as May 13, Elon Musk announced that the redemption process was suspended, for lack of knowing enough about these famous suspicious accounts, which he suspected of being four times more numerous than the proportion of 5% advanced by the site. from microblogging.
Twitter well positioned to win its case
Twitter had quickly filed a lawsuit to compel the contractor to honor the terms of the agreement, and everything indicated that he was well positioned to win.
"It's a clear sign that Musk recognizes that his chances of winning against the board in a Delaware court are very slim and that the $44 billion buyout was going to have to happen one way or another." , reacted the analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities.
Faced with Twitter's complaint, the president of the Delaware specialized court granted the company a quick trial, while Elon Musk wanted to wait until next year and was asking for astronomical amounts of data.
The trial, if maintained, should theoretically take place from October 17 to 21.
Difficult to know at this stage why the multi-billionaire has changed his mind.
Neither Twitter nor Elon Musk's lawyers responded to requests from AFP immediately.
“According to some speculation, Musk could have had to pay substantial interest if he had appealed, and therefore have to pay much more than the $54.20 per share,” notes Adam Badawi, professor of business law at the university. from Berkeley.
The Musk clan seemed to have gained a point when Peiter Zatko, the ex-Twitter security chief fired in January, accused the group in late August of major security breaches and lying about its fight against fake accounts, in a report submitted to the American authorities.
Presenting himself as a whistleblower, he sent a long document to the American authorities at the beginning of July, but it was only revealed to the general public at the end of August.
Elon Musk's lawyers then asked to be able to include these new charges in their defense.
But during preliminary hearings with the judge, his lawyers seemed to struggle to substantiate the accusations on the false accounts.
