Elon Musk to buy Twitter
The two parties met on Sunday, just ten days after Musk made an offer of $43 billion ($54.20 per share) for the social media platform.
According to the New York Times, talks between Musk and the 11-member board continued into the early hours of Monday, and the two sides appeared to be “nearing a deal,” though it could still fall apart.
According to sources, they were discussing details such as a schedule for closing a potential deal and any fees to be paid if a signed agreement fell through.
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Twitter Inc. TWTR 3.93 percent is in talks to sell itself to Elon Musk, and a deal could be finalized as soon as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, a dramatic turn of events just 10 days after the billionaire unveiled his $43 billion bid for the social-media company.
Elon Musk
The two sides met on Sunday to discuss Mr. Musk’s proposal and were making progress, though there were still issues to work out, according to the people. There is no guarantee that they will reach an agreement.
Twitter had been wary of Musk’s offer until Thursday when Musk revealed that he had secured $46.5 billion in financing to buy the company.
The often-unpredictable entrepreneur’s offer to take the company private shook Twitter users, who were concerned that Musk’s anything-goes mission would destroy what had become a kind of moderately civilized mass town square. Stockholders have been skeptical that Musk will be able to put the money and proposal together.
According to the Journal, Musk pushed hard for the deal on Friday, when he met privately via video call with several key shareholders to pitch his purchase. He vowed to address the “free speech” issues that he believes are harming the platform.
Few details about his plan were immediately available, but he has stated reducing advertising and allowing longer tweets.
Following the meetings, some shareholders praised Musk.
“He has an established track record at Tesla,” Lauri Brunner, who manages Thrivent Asset Management LLC, told the Journal. “He is the catalyst to deliver strong operating performance at Twitter.” Thrivent holds a $160 million stake in Twitter, amounting to approximately 0.4 percent of the company. It is also a shareholder in Tesla.
Mr. Musk has said from the start that his $54.20-per-share offer is his “best and final,” and he has reiterated to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor in recent days that he will not budge on price, according to some of the people. Conversations between the two parties were expected to center on issues such as how much Mr. Musk would pay if an agreed-upon deal fell through before it was completed.
Twitter is set to report first-quarter earnings on Thursday and was expected to make a decision on the bid then, if not sooner.
According to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Musk met privately Friday with several shareholders of the company to extol the virtues of his proposal while repeating that the board has a “yes-or-no” decision to make. He also promised to address the free-speech issues that he sees as afflicting the platform and the country as a whole, whether his bid succeeds or fails, they said.
According to the people, Mr. Musk made his pitch to select shareholders in a series of video calls, with a focus on actively managed funds, in the hopes of swaying the company’s decision.
Mr. Musk believes Twitter management will be unable to get the stock to his offer price on its own, given the company’s problems and inability to address them. It would be impossible to learn if he detailed specific steps he would take, though he has tweeted about wanting to reduce the platform’s reliance on advertising as well as make simpler changes like allowing longer tweets.
Mr. Musk has already stated that he is considering taking his bid directly to shareholders through a tender offer. Even if he received significant shareholder support in a tender offer, which is far from certain, he would still need a way around the company’s poison pill, a legal maneuver that effectively prevents him from increasing his stake to 15% or more.
Elon Musk to buy Twitter, can this happen? Your guess is as good as mine. let’s hear your say on this.