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(Reuters) -Billionaire Elon Musk is proposing to go ahead with his original offer of $54.20 per share to take Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) private, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, sending shares of the social media firm surging.
Twitter shares jumped 12.7% to $47.93 before trading was halted for the second time, while Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc, the electric vehicle company that Musk heads, rose by 1.5%.
Bloomberg reported the move earlier, saying Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter. It cited people who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.
Twitter and Musk’s lawyers were not immediately available for requests for comment from Reuters.
The news comes ahead of a highly anticipated face-off between Musk and Twitter in Delaware’s Court of Chancery on Oct. 17, in which the social media company was set to seek an order directing Musk to close the deal at $54.20 per share.
“This is a clear sign that Musk recognized heading into Delaware Court that the chances of winning vs. Twitter board was highly unlikely and this $44 billion deal was going to be completed one way or another,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note after the news.
Musk agreed in April to buy Twitter for $44 billion, but within weeks said the number of bot accounts was much higher than Twitter’s estimate of less than 5% of users.
