Musk proposes to buy Twitter for original offer price of $54.20 a share

Elon Musk is proposing to buy Twitter Inc. for the original offer price of $54.20 a share, Bloomberg News reports.

Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. Shares in Twitter climbed as much as 18% on the news, after trading was briefly halted.

Musk had been trying for months to back out of his contract to acquire Twitter, signed in April. Shortly afterward, he began showing signs of buyer’s remorse, alleging that Twitter had misled him about the size of its user base and the prevalence of automated accounts known as bots.