Elon Musk Closer to $43 Billion Twitter Acquisition Deal

The thread on Twitter and Elon Musk continues with Twitter reportedly agreeing to Musk’s bid to purchase the social networking platform for $43 billion.

According to Reuters, Twitter may announce the $54.20-per-share deal later on Monday once its board has met to recommend the transaction to Twitter shareholders, but no conclusions are reached as there are still possibilities of the deal collapsing at the last minute.

Musk is negotiating to buy Twitter in a personal capacity and Tesla is not involved in the deal.

The social networking platform 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. Still, Twitter would be allowed to accept an offer from another party by paying Musk a break-up fee, the report states.

Musk, a prolific Twitter user, has said it needs to be taken private to grow and become a genuine platform for free speech.

The 50-year-old entrepreneur, who is also CEO of rocket developer SpaceX, has said he wants to combat trolls on the platform and proposed changes to the Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price and banning advertising.

The billionaire, a vocal advocate of cryptocurrencies, has also suggested adding dogecoin as a payment option on Twitter.

He has said Twitter’s current leadership team is incapable of getting the company’s stock to his offer price on its own, but stopped short of saying it needs to be replaced.

The company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form,” Musk said in his offer letter last week.

Up to the point Musk disclosed a stake in Twitter in April, the company’s shares had fallen about 10% since Parag Agrawal took over as CEO from founder Jack Dorsey in late November.

The deal, if it happens, would come just four days after Musk unveiled a financing package to back the acquisition.

This led Twitter’s board to take his offer more seriously and many shareholders to ask the company not to let the opportunity for a deal slip away, Reuters reported on Sunday. Before Musk revealed the financing package, Twitter’s board was expected to reject the bid, sources had said.

The sale would represent an admission by Twitter that Agrawal is not making enough traction in making the company more profitable, despite being on track to meet ambitious financial goals the company set for 2023. Twitter’s shares were trading higher than Musk’s offer price as recently as November.

Musk unveiled his intention to buy Twitter on April 14 and take it private via a financing package comprised of equity and debt. Wall Street’s biggest lenders, except those advising Twitter, have all committed to provide debt financing.

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