Elon Musk has been critical of Twitter’s policies.
New Delhi:
Twitter is in the final stretch of negotiations about a sale to Elon Musk for around $43 billion, a deal that could rank as one of the biggest-ever leveraged buyouts of a listed company.
Here is what we know about the Elon Musk-Twitter deal:
Twitter Inc is expected to accept the $43 billion takeover deal offered by Elon Musk, reports Reuters. Musk has called this his “best and final” offer for the micro-blogging platform.
Twitter may announce the $54.20-per-share deal later on Monday once its board has met to recommend the transaction to Twitter shareholders.
Elon Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist”, has been critical of Twitter’s policies.
The Tesla chief executive officer has said Twitter needs to be taken private to grow and become a genuine platform for free speech.
The deal would come just four days after Musk unveiled a financing package to back the acquisition. This led Twitter’s board to take the deal more seriously and many shareholders to ask the company not to let the opportunity for a deal to slip away.
Musk currently owns 9.1 per cent stake in Twitter and is the social media company’s second-biggest shareholder. Twitter had previously invited Elon Musk to join its board of directors, but the SpaceX head declined.
The Twitter board of directors had been opposed to the proposal, lining up a “poison pill” clause that would make it harder for Musk to acquire more than 15 percent of the company via the market.
The potential turnabout on Twitter’s part comes after Musk met with several shareholders of the company on Friday.
Tesla CEO Musk said Thursday he had secured close to $46.5 billion to finance the transaction.
Twitter has not been able to secure so far a ‘go-shop’ provision under its agreement with Musk that would allow it to solicit other bids once the deal is signed.
