Elon Musk Stokes Office Relocation Chatter With Renewed $44B Twitter Bid
With a court battle looming, Elon Musk renewed his offer to purchase Twitter for $44B, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The billionaire founder of Tesla sent a letter to Twitter Monday indicating his interest in paying the originally agreed-upon $54.20 per share for the social media company, after calling off the deal in July. Musk said at the time that Twitter was overrun by spam.
The potential terms of the deal were first reported by Bloomberg.
Musk's abandonment of the deal caused Twitter to sue him in Delaware Chancery Court, attempting to compel him to go through with the purchase. A trial date is set for Oct. 17, with the judge in the case asking both sides for a proposal about how to move forward following Monday's turn of events, Bloomberg reported.
The deal's future could have implications for Twitter's Silicon Valley office footprint, as it has been speculated that Musk could eventually relocate the company headquarters from downtown San Francisco to Texas following a buyout. Tesla relocated its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas, in 2021.
Twitter itself put a freeze on its hiring efforts earlier this year, while also laying off 30% of its talent acquisition team. Twitter also scaled back its office footprint, canceling plans for a 66K SF Oakland office expansion, and vacating space held in San Francisco, while downsizing office space in New York.
Meanwhile, Musk has been a vocal critic of remote work policies, mandating Tesla employees return to the office or find work elsewhere. The company shuttered its office space in San Mateo, California, cutting 200 jobs from Tesla’s Autopilot program and vacating a 68K SF space.
