Twitter Inc. shares were halted in midday trading Tuesday after Bloomberg News reported that Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk was “proposing” to purchase the social-media company at his original offer price.
The report said that Musk sent a letter to Twitter
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with the proposal to acquire the company for $54.20 a share. Twitter shares were up 13% in midday trading prior to the halt.
Trading was first paused due to volatility, and then halted for pending news.
Musk agreed in April to buy Twitter in a deal that valued the company at roughly $44 billion, but he said months later that he was terminating the deal. The Tesla
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chief cited concerns about bot activity on Twitter and said he believed the company’s management team wasn’t accurate in its public disclosures about the extent of spam activity on the platform.
The two sides have been locked in a legal battle for months, and a Delaware Chancery Court judge was expected to hear from both sides in a five-day trial slated to begin Oct. 17.
