Twitter shareholders have moved to approve the proposed $44-billion takeover bid from Elon Musk, despite the Tesla CEO’s attempts to renege on the deal.
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that early votes indicated shareholders were in favor of the $54.20-per-share offer by “a wide margin.”
In a Tuesday statement, Twitter announced an overwhelming 98.6% of shareholders voted in favor of the deal, according to its preliminary results.
It added it “stands ready and willing to complete the merger with affiliates of Musk immediately, and in any event, no later than on September 15.”
Following the vote, Twitter’s shares rose to $41.74 per share at Tuesday’s close, still well below the $54.20-per-share offer submitted by Musk back in April.
Twitter set a September 13 meeting date for the vote back in July, just weeks after Musk notified the social media company that he planned to cancel the acquisition, arguing the company misled him and investors about the number of fake accounts on the social media platform.
Musk has made three attempts to explain his move to drop the purchase, with the latest claim putting forward another alleged breach of the merger deal, over a separation agreement payment of $7.7 million between Twitter and its former head of security Peiter “Mudge” Zatko.
Twitter believes such attempts to exit the deal are driven by buyer’s remorse.