Musk Retreats, Seeks Twitter Deal In Face Of Court Loss

The tumultuous saga of Elon Musk's on-again off-again purchase of Twitter took a turn toward a conclusion Tuesday after the mercurial Tesla CEO proposed to buy the company at the originally agreed-on price of $44 billion, if Twitter drops its case against him, Tom Krisher and Matt O’Brien reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Musk made the surprising turnaround not on Twitter, as has been his custom, but in a letter to Twitter that the company disclosed in a filing Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Musk made the surprising turnaround not on Twitter, as has been his custom, but in a letter to Twitter that the company disclosed in a filing Tuesday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

It came less than two weeks before a trial between the two parties is scheduled to start in Delaware.

In response, Twitter said it intends to close the transaction at $54.20 per share after receiving the letter from Musk. But the company stopped short of saying it's dropping its lawsuit against the billionaire Tesla CEO.

Experts said that makes sense given the contentious relationship and lack of trust between the two parties.

"I don’t think Twitter will give up its trial date on just Musk’s word — it’s going to need more certainty about closing," said Andrew Jennings, professor at Brooklyn Law School, noting that the company may also be worried about Musk's proposal being a delaying tactic. After all, he's already tried to unsuccessfully postpone the trial twice, Randall Chase and Barbara Ortutay also reported for AP.

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