Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Elon wants Twitter—again

After months of trying to back out and just days before a trial over his reversal, Elon Musk now says he’s willing to buy Twitter after all, and at $54.20 a share—his original price. It’s yet another surprise turn of events in one of the most contentious acquisitions in recent memory. Since April, the Tesla co-founder has shown buyer’s remorse over his $44 billion deal for the social media platform, criticizing management and arguing Twitter wasn’t honest about bot accounts. Musk officially backed out in July, triggering a lawsuit by Twitter. His proposal to match the initial terms means Twitter again faces a future where the world’s richest person, a mercurial multibillionaire who has loudly questioned the company’s value, will be the boss. —Margaret Sutherlin

Far more Russians have fled abroad than have reported to the military since Vladimir Putin announced a mobilization to bolster his faltering war on Ukraine. Russian officials said more than 200,000 people have been conscripted, but that matches a similar number who fled to neighboring Kazakhstan alone, on top of almost 69,000 reported to have crossed into Georgia. On the ground in Ukraine, Kyiv’s forces have reportedly made substantial gains over the last 24 hours around Lyman in the northeast, which they recently took back, and in the Kherson region in the south. 

Travelers arriving from Russia through the Verkhny Lars border crossing wait for a taxi for travel in Dariali, Georgia. Photographer: Tako Robakidze/Bloomberg

Officials in Liz Truss’s government contend aggressive rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve will dilute what they foresee as benefits from the Tory prime minister’s plan for deregulation and low taxes. Without slower and lower hikes, the UK officials said the Bank of England will follow the Fed, causing higher borrowing costs for households and companies. Truss has been under fire both globally and domestically for her plan to cut taxes on the rich, a plan which triggered sharp market turmoil. She has since walked it back.

The S&P 500 is having its best two-day surge since April 2020, though it helps that it’s coming off a particularly grim week. Bad news for American workers gave bullish investors on Wall Street a reason for hope when it comes to Fed policy. Job openings sank to a 14-month low. Here’s your markets wrap.

Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, has finally completed the succession process at his hedge fund, something he started back in 2010. On Sept. 30, he transferred all of his voting rights to the board of directors and stepped down as one of Bridgewater’s three co-chief investment officers, ending his run at the world’s largest hedge fund. 

Ray Dalio Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg

President Joe Biden assured Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of America’s “ironclad commitment” to defending its Pacific ally after North Korea fired a missile over the country for the first time in five years. The test represented the longest-range weapon fired by North Korea since May and hearkens back to the autumn of 2017 when Kim’s regime unleashed its largest barrage of long-range rockets and detonated a nuclear bomb. 

There are fresh signs of a slowdown over at Amazon. The company has paused hiring for corporate positions in its retail business, a sign the pullback in online spending is starting to bite. In New York, Facebook parent Meta said it would close one its offices as part of cutbacks and white collar workers are increasingly anxious about cutbacks. 

Pfizer has emerged from the first 2 ½ years of the Covid-19 pandemic as the world’s most visible and commercially potent drugmaker, and it’s betting big on messenger RNA. But the success it enjoyed because of its Covid-19 vaccine (made with BioNTech) and the virus drug Paxlovid, has left investors ready for the next big hit.  

Bloomberg continues to track the global coronavirus pandemic. Click here for daily updates.

• Micron plans to invest up to $100 billion in a new US chip factory.
• The UK wants a 20-year gas deal with Norway to stave off blackouts. 
• The latest thing Americans can’t agree on? Fed rate hikes. 
• Say goodbye to Apple’s lightning port—at least in the European Union.
• Wall Street wants to rent you a greener suburban house.
• Bloomberg Podcasts: The woman who reshaped Osage Nation land.
• Country music icon Loretta Lynn has died at age 90.

In the glow of early morning, the Caribbean Sea shimmers a psychedelic pink in the pools that form along the eastern edge of Venezuela’s Margarita Island. To outsiders, the water appears surreal, other-worldly. To impoverished locals, it means there’s money to be made.

Collectors work the salt flats in Pampatar, Margarita Island, Venezuela Photographer: Matias Delacroix/Bloomberg

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