In an unexpected u-turn, Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk looks set to complete his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, alleged spam bots, fake accounts and all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the notice filed by Musk\u2019s lawyers with the Delaware Chancery Court on Monday, which was overseeing the trial, Musk is ready to \u201cproceed to closing of the transaction contemplated by the April 25, 2022 Merger Agreement.\u201d <\/p>\n
It follows several months of legal drama with the social media platform where Musk tried to back out of the deal, citing Twitter’s lack of transparency around spam bots, fake accounts and the financial health of the business, and came just weeks before a rapidly approaching court date to settle the matter on Oct. 17.<\/p>\n
Musk\u2019s proposed deal comes on the condition that there is \u201can immediate stay of the action\u201d and adjournment of the trial and pending receipt of financing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Twitter appears ready to accept the terms of the deal, announcing in an Oct. 4 Twitter post they intend to close the transaction at $54.20 per share.<\/p>\n
Whether the looming court date prompted Musk\u2019s change of heart is uncertain, however, the Telsa and SpaceX founder has already teased plans for the platform after he takes ownership. <\/p>\n
Other than the cryptic tweet, Musk has not yet unveiled what the proposed multi-purpose X app is, but in a follow-up tweet on Oct 4, he did mention, \u201cTwitter probably accelerates X by 3 to 5 years, but I could be wrong.\u201d <\/p>\n
Musk previously mulled turning to blockchain technology to combat spam bots by making Twitter users pay 0.1 Dogecoin (DOGE) to tweet or retweet, according to a transcript of phone recordings.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to pay a tiny amount to register your message on the chain, which will cut out the vast majority of spam and bots. There is no throat to choke, so free speech is guaranteed,\u201d Musk said on page 98 of the transcript. <\/p>\n
He later concluded that blockchain-based Twitter might not be feasible at the moment. <\/p>\n
Related: <\/em><\/strong>Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly intended to join the Twitter deal in March<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The news that Musk could be the new owner of the social media platform has been met with a mixed response from the Twitter community. <\/p>\n Dogecoin creator Bill Markus, also known as Shibetoshi Nakamoto on Twitter told his 1.7 million followers that \u201cif elon musk makes twitter better, then twitter will be better,\u201d adding: <\/p>\n \u201cIf elon musk ruins twitter, then we don\u2019t have to hear all the stupid things that people say on twitter anymore. that\u2019s a win-win.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Other users were not so optimistic, with one noting that he couldn’t believe “anyone who values @Twitter at all would want @elonmusk to have anything to do with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the last 24 hours, the Twitter stock price has jumped 22.24% to a total of $52 a share, according to Nasdaq data. <\/p>\n While Dogcoin, which has in the past seen an increase based on the actions of Musk, has had an 8% increase, trading at $0.06 at time of writing according to Coingecko.\u00a0<\/p>\n