Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shareholders will vote on Elon Musk’s bid to buy the social media platform in a virtual meeting on 13 September, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The social media giant informed shareholders in writing it will hold the virtual meeting on that date to decide the fate of Musk’s proposed US$44bn takeover of the platform.
This was after the Tesla chief executive attempted to pull out of the deal, citing an alleged breach of the merger agreement, and Twitter subsequently sought to enforce the deal by launching legal action.
According to the original deal documents, Musk would be potentially liable to stump up US$1bn if he terminated the deal, unless Twitter was proved to have materially breached the original agreement.
On 8 July, the business magnate told Twitter that he wanted to exit the deal, claiming that the social media platform had failed to provide sufficient information on the number of bots on the platform.
Musk’s lawyers said Twitter had not responded to his requests for further information around the number of fake or spam accounts on its site, claiming the social media platform breached provisions outlined in the merger agreement.
Twitter responded by pursuing legal action against Musk, who was listed as the world’s richest man this year by Forbes, to hold up the agreement and conclude the deal.
Its chairman Bret Taylor tweeted that the board was “committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed with Mr Musk”.
Twitter was granted an expedited trial in a Delaware Chancery Court this October and Musk has so far not succeeded in delaying the hearing until next February.
The original takeover proposal valued Twitter’s shares at US$54.20, a 38% premium to its closing share price on April 1.