American billionaire Elon Musk could soon be the owner of Twitter as the social media behemoth is in the last stretches of its negotiations over the sale of the company, reports published on April 25 said. Twitter is reportedly hammering out final touches to its negotiations about the sale of the company to Musk and could reach an agreement as soon as Monday.
Twitter is “set to accept the offer” and the agreement could be reached later today, news agency Reuters reported.
As per news reports, Twitter kicked off deal negotiations with Elon Musk on Sunday after he wooed many of the company’s shareholders with financing details of his $43 billion acquisition bid.
However, the company’s decision to contemplate Musk’s offer does not necessarily mean that it will accept his bid of $54.20 per share. Rather, it reveals that the company is now actively exploring whether a sale of the company to the Tesla CEO is possible on attractive terms, the sources close to the matter were reported as saying.
Musk has been meeting Twitter shareholders for the last few days, canvassing support for his bid and convincing them that Twitter needs to be taken private to unlock its “true potential” and become a genuine platform for free speech as it claims to be.
According to sources privy to the matter, Twitter is currently seeking information about active investigations by regulators into Musk, including by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC), that could present roadblocks to the closure of the deal.
Twitter is also exploring whether regulators in any of its major markets would oppose Musk owning the company, reports said. Sources also claimed that if Twitter ascertains that a sale to Musk could be risky, it could seek a commensurate break-up fee for the same.
Musk, who had revealed earlier this month that he is the largest stakeholder in Twitter, had offered to buy the social media company for $43 billion. In his SEC disclosure, Musk had said he has made his “best and final” offer after accrued a stake of more than 9% in Twitter earlier this year.
However, two days after Elon Musk made an offer to buy 100 per cent shares of Twitter Inc. to take the company private and make it a bastion of free speech, Twitter Inc.’s board came up with a new plan to ensure that no one takes control of Twitter through the open market accumulation of shares.
The company reportedly adopted the ‘poison pill’ strategy in which the rights become exercisable if anyone acquires ownership of 15% or more of Twitter’s stock in a transaction not authorised by the board. The micro-blogging tech company implemented a limited-duration shareholder rights plan to protect itself from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s $43 billion cash takeover offer.
But the latest reports suggest that Twitter has changed its tune with respect to the offer made by Musk and is currently examining the deal, which is likely to get closed later this evening.
