Elon Musk reportedly renews his offer to buy Twitter

Elon Musk has renewed his offer to purchase Twitter for $54.20 a share, according to reports. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO extended the offer in a letter sent to Twitter overnight. 

The renewed offer is the latest twist in a continued saga involving the outspoken, eccentric billionaire and the social media platform. 

Twitter has been in a state of turmoil since April, when Musk first said he wanted to buy the social media platform. He lined up $46.5 billion in financing to back his unsolicited bid, relying on loans and $33.5 billion from his own equity. As the deal materialized, some of Twitter's top executives were pushed out of the company and others resigned. 

However, Musk quickly began suggesting the deal was “on hold”, complaining about the number of fake accounts on the Twitter platform. Then in July, Musk said he was backing out of the deal.

Twitter's board quickly responded that it was prepared to take legal action to ensure the deal closes at a price of $54.20 per share. As promised, Twitter filed suit against the Tesla CEO, claiming he cannot back out of his commitment to acquire the company.

Then last month, Twitter shareholders formally approved Musk's $44 billion takeover deal.

Musk's latest offer comes just days before the trial is set to begin to determine whether the acquisition should move forward.

Meanwhile, Twitter's former chief security officer, Peiter ‘Mudge' Zatko, testified before a US Senate committee in September about the social media platform's security vulnerabilities. Earlier this year, Zatko filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that Twitter's physical and digital security systems for protecting user privacy and moderating content suffered extreme deficiencies. Subsequently, Musk filed yet another letter with the SEC to argue the deal should be terminated, claiming that Zatko's $7.75 million severance package from Twitter violated the terms of the acquisition deal. 

Today — the same day Musk reportedly renewed his acquisition offer — a judged agreed that Twitter could proceed with a probe to determine whether Zatko had been in communication with Musk's lawyers before the billionaire backed out of the Twitter deal.