Twitter Inc ’s board said it plans to enforce its US$44 billion agreement to be bought by Elon Musk, saying the transaction is in the best interest of all shareholders. “We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement,” the board said Tuesday in a statement to Bloomberg News. Directors voted earlier to unanimously recommended that shareholders approve Musk’s US$54.20-a-share offer. The proposed takeover includes a US$1 billion break-up fee for each party, which Musk will have to pay if he ends the deal or fails to deliver the acquisition funding as promised. Musk might be released from that requirement if he can show a material change in the company’s situation or the information it has provided. Musk says Twitter deal at lower price ‘not out of the question’ The board’s statement comes as Musk appears to be manoeuvring to ditch or renegotiate his offer. Musk said last week that the deal was “on hold” until he gets more information, specifically proof from Twitter that so-called spam bots make up less than 5 per cent of its users. On Monday Musk stoked speculation that he could seek to renegotiate the takeover, saying at a tech conference in Miami that a viable deal at a lower price wouldn’t be “out of the question”. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co are set to earn a combined US$133 million in fees for advising Twitter on the acquisition – if the deal closes. Twitter agreed to pay Goldman Sachs US$80 million, the bulk of which will get paid once the deal closes, according to a US securities filing on Tuesday. The bank got US$15 million of that when the deal was announced. JPMorgan is poised for a US$53 million payout, US$5 million of which was payable after the lender delivered its opinion to Twitter’s board on April 25. The rest hinges on the deal closing. Musk says he would reverse Twitter ban on Trump If the deal goes through, the payouts would be a welcome windfall for investment banks grappling with a slowdown in deal making. In the first quarter, revenue from advising on mergers and acquisitions gained from a year earlier at the five biggest banks, bolstered by deals announced in 2021. Twitter shares, which had dropped for seven straight trading days, closed Tuesday up 2.5 per cent to US$38.32, still well below the offer price.