Elon Musk makes U-turn on Twitter deal

Elon Musk has made a surprising u-turn on whether he will buy Twitter. The billionaire had initially dropped out of the deal to buy the social media site, but it seems he’s not willing to proceed with the takeover. 

In a letter to Twitter, Musk has agreed to pay the price he offered months ago – before he backed out over bot accounts. 

The reversal comes as a shock as it’s only weeks ahead of a court date that was set to see Twitter and Musk battle out on whether Musk should be forced to buy the company. Twitter had sued Musk to force the sale of the company to move forward – Twitter had the stronger case. 

Musk’s attorneys said the world’s richest man intended to move ahead to complete the transaction, pending receipt of the financing and an end of the legal fight. 

The news sent Twitter’s shares soaring more than 20 per cent to more than $52 apiece. But the value remained lower than the takeover price, a sign of investor doubt the deal would actually go through.