Elon Musk has offered to buy Twitter for the originally agreed price of $44bn, in a move that could put an end to one of the most high-profile corporate legal battles in decades, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Tesla chief executive initially agreed in April to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, before announcing in July that he intended to pull out of the deal, citing concerns that the company had misled regulators and investors over the number of fake accounts on the platform. Twitter sued Musk to complete the deal, arguing that his attempt to back out was motivated by protecting his financial interests during a downturn in tech stocks rather than any valid concerns over account numbers. A trial was set to begin later this month. Shares in Twitter rose about 13 percent to $48 before being halted after Bloomberg first reported that Musk proposed to proceed with a deal.