(CNN) – Twitter’s shares have been suspended twice, up about 13% at noon Tuesday after Elon Musk suggested pursuing his deal to buy the company at the originally agreed price. of $ 54.20 per share.
Bloomberg and the Washington Post reported Tuesday that Musk sent a message to Twitter proposing that the deal be completed as it was originally signed, citing people familiar with the negotiations.
Musk and Twitter reps did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The news comes as both sides prepare to go to trial in two weeks for Musk’s attempt to withdraw from the $ 44 billion acquisition deal, and Twitter has sued him to complete it. Musk’s lawyers were supposed to oust Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal on Monday. Twitter lawyers had planned to fire Musk starting Thursday.
Such a deal could end the months-long dispute between Musk and Twitter, causing enormous uncertainty for employees, investors and users of one of the most influential social media platforms in the world.
The saga began in April when Musk revealed that he had become Twitter’s biggest contributor. In the following months, Musk accepted and then withdrew the offer to sit on Twitter’s board, threatened to take over the company, signed a deal to buy the company, began to raise concerns about bot accounts on the platform. and attempted to terminate the agreement. Twitter is suing to complete the deal.
However, several legal experts have argued that Twitter has a stronger case going to court and that Musk will face a significant burden in trying to prove that the company has made material misleading statements in its securities filings or purchase agreement.
The lawsuit was the last remaining obstacle to concluding the deal, after Twitter shareholders voted last month to approve the deal.
