Twitter has frozen equity award accounts for employees days ahead of a deadline to close its deal with Elon Musk, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, a sign the social media firm hopes the deal will go through.
The report sent Twitter shares up 1.8% to $51.60, still below Musk’s offer price of $54.20 per share.
Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, and Twitter are headed by a Delaware court to close the $44 billion deal on October 28. The deal was first announced in April.
According to the report, the social media company updated its employee FAQ page this week to warn staff that they will not be able to access or trade shares from the Equity Pricing Center.
The site said the change was made “pending the closing of Twitter’s pending acquisition by an entity controlled by Elon Musk,” according to the report, citing two people familiar with the change.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Musk in May tried to back out of the deal, claiming Twitter undervalued bot and spam accounts on the social media platform, which set off a series of lawsuits between the two sides.
Earlier this month, Musk reversed course and said he would proceed with the deal under the original terms, after which a judge halted a trial that had been scheduled for this week.
