Elon Musk has reversed course and decided to go through with his plan to buy Twitter.

The reversal comes shortly before the two sides were slated to face off in a Delaware courtroom. Had Musk lost the trial, he would have been on the hook for a massive ‘breakup fee’ and this could have left him with nothing to show for the $1 billion (£882 million / €1 billion) penalty.

However, lawyers for Musk wrote to their Twitter counterparts saying the billionaire plans to proceed with the merger agreement – contingent on a handful of conditions. The letter went on to say the “Musk Parties provide this notice without admission of liability and without waiver of or prejudice to any of their rights, including their right to assert the defenses and counterclaims pending in the Action, including in the event the Action is not stayed, Twitter fails or refuses to comply with its obligations under the April 25, 2022 Merger Agreement or if the transaction contemplated thereby otherwise fails to close.”

Also Read: Elon Musk Bails On Twitter Deal, Claims Company Didn’t Provide Required Information

https://twitter.com/TwitterIR/status/1577380758192197632

Twitter issued a brief statement acknowledging their receipt of the letter and noted the company intends to “close the transaction at $54.20 per share.” That values the company at $44 (£38.8 / €44.5) billion and there’s plenty of speculation about why Musk suddenly decided to go through with the purchase. In particular, a professor at Columbia Law School noted Musk was “about to get deposed” and a “lot of uncomfortable facts” would likely come out.

Interestingly, the legal battle doesn’t appear to be over as sources told Reuters the two sides haven’t reached an agreement over that aspect yet. The publication went on to note Musk is set to be deposed on Thursday and an insider described that as a “pressure point.”

Musk was relatively quiet about the news, but tweeted “buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app.” That implies the billionaire is envisioning a sprawling smartphone app that presumably combines Tesla features with the ability to tweet – among other things.