Twitter shares will be suspended on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday as Elon Musk edges towards a takeover

• The New York Stock Exchange will suspend Twitter shares Friday as Elon Musk closes in on a takeover.
• Musk is buying the social media company for $44 billion after trying to walk away from the deal.

Twitter shares will be suspended from trading on Friday as Elon Musk edges closer to closing a $44 billion takeover deal, according to the New York Stock Exchange.

Earlier this month a judge ruled that Musk had to complete a deal to buy Twitter at $54.20 a share by October 28 to avoid a courtroom trial.

Musk posted a video of himself visiting Twitter's San Francisco headquarters on Wednesday and recently updated his profile to "Chief Twit" – seemingly signaling that a deal is close to completion.

The Tesla chief executive also said he was excited about potentially closing the deal on a third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

"I think it's massive that this sort of languished for a long time, but has an incredible potential," he said. "Although myself and the other investors are obviously overpaying for Twitter right now, the long-term potential for Twitter, in my view, is, in order of magnitude, greater than its current value."

Twitter shares edged about 1% higher in premarket trading to $53.91. Its market value stands at just under $41 billion.

Read more: The Elon Musk-Twitter saga could finally be coming to end