Twitter has frozen equity award accounts for workers days ahead of the deadline to shut its take care of Elon Musk, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, an indication that the social media firm hopes the deal will consummate.
The report sent Twitter shares up 1.8% at $51.60, still lower than Musk’s offer price of $54.20 per share.
Musk, chief executive of Tesla, and Twitter are directed by the Delaware court to shut the $44 billion deal on Oct. 28. The deal was first announced in April.
The social media company updated its worker FAQ page this week to alert staff that they won’t have the ability to access or trade shares from the Equity Award Center, in response to the report.
The page said the change was done “in anticipation of the closing of the pending acquisition of Twitter by an entity controlled by Elon Musk,” in response to the report, citing two people acquainted with the change.
Twitter didn’t immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.
Musk in May tried to walk away from the deal, alleging that Twitter understated bot and spam accounts on the social media platform, which began a series of lawsuits between the 2 parties.
Earlier this month, Musk reversed course and said he’ll proceed with the deal on original terms, following which a judge halted the trial that was scheduled for this week.
