Tesla CEO Elon Musk has claimed that Twitter is now refusing to accept his offer to buy the company for $44 billion.
Musk described the response as a “plot twist” after the two parties had appeared to end their lawsuit battle and settle the deal.
As Slay News reported earlier this week, Musk agreed to move forward with the deal after Twitter sued him for trying to back out of the takeover.
Twitter responded by stating that they would accept his offer, indicating that the deal could be completed “within days.”
Musk’s renewed proposal sent share prices surging by as much as 22% on the news.
Twitter and Musk have been locked in a court battle over his attempt to cancel the offer due to a dispute about the platform’s true number of real users.
Musk had expressed concerns that the actual number of fake accounts on the platform could range as high as 33%, rather than the company’s reported 5%.
With a lower number of monetizable daily active users, Musk argues that it justifies a lower valuation.
A trial to determine the status of the acquisition had been scheduled for October 17.
However, new legal filings suggest that, despite publicly accepting Musk’s offer, Twitter is refusing to move forward with the deal behind the scenes.
“Twitter will not take yes for an answer,” Musk’s attorney Edward Micheletti said in a legal filing addressing Twitter’s latest rejection of Musk’s offer.
“Astonishingly, they have insisted on proceeding with this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders’ interests.”
Musk responded to the news on Twitter, writing: “Plot twist!”
Plot twist!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2022
The Associated Press said that Twitter likely made the move because they are wanting to seek more assurances from Musk that he is serious and will not try to back out of the offer again.
Twitter’s attorneys had contested Musk’s rationale for rescinding the $44 billion deal by producing text messages he sent to Michael Grimes, an executive at investment bank Morgan Stanley.
The texts indicated that he was concerned about macroeconomic conditions stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Let’s slow down just a few days,” Musk said.
“Putin speech tomorrow is extremely important.
“It won’t make sense to buy Twitter if we’re heading into World War III.”
Kathaleen McCormick, the Delaware judge overseeing the merger, announced Thursday night that she was delaying the court proceedings by moving the original trial from October 17 to October 28 to give Musk the opportunity to close out the sale of the company first.
The AP later reported that Twitter was disputing Musk’s claim that the company rejected his renewed $44 billion offer.
After McCormick issued her ruling, Twitter doubled down on its insistence that it tends to go forward with letting Musk acquire the company.
“We look forward to closing the transaction at $54.20 by October 28th,” the company said.
