Is the soap opera between Elon Musk and Twitter approaching its conclusion? Several American media have revealed the existence of discussions between the two parties since Sunday, April 24. According to some indiscretions, the deal could be concluded before Thursday, or even this Monday, but nothing has been done for the moment.
Twitter’s Board Changes Position
It’s the wall street journal who was the first to draw by revealing the existence of these discussions. On Sunday morning, the eleven members of Twitter’s Board of Directors met to discuss Elon Musk’s offer, a dramatic turnaround in just a few days.
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Since the billionaire revealed his intention to buy the social network about ten days ago, the Board of Directors has tended to put obstacles in his way. He prevented him from increasing his stake in the company beyond 15% thanks to a defense procedure, “the poison pill”.
Elon Musk has publicly considered attempting a hostile move, a takeover bid. It would have enabled him to circumvent the Board of Directors, to directly buy back the shares of the shareholders. Without having the guarantee of success.
The CEO of Tesla has tried since Friday April 22 to convince several shareholders. Some, like the Thrivent fund, which owns 0.4% of Twitter shares, said they were convinced. Others find the offer at $54.20 a share too low. This is 54% more than the value of the title when Elon Musk started buying them back, in January 2022, but lower than in 2021. He has already said that this offer is the best, he will not offer better.
Ultimately, it was Elon Musk’s ability to quickly raise $46.5 billion, including $21 billion in equity, that convinced the board of directors to come around the table. Discussions began on Sunday and continued until the early hours of Monday according to the New York Times.
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The confidentiality of the exchanges did not prevent certain information from filtering. Among the subjects, the timing of the buyback operations, the fees that Musk will have to agree to, even if the operation fails. Reuters adds that there would also be a concern around the investigations of the American stock market policeman, the Securities and Exchange Commission, on the billionaire and his business.
All the media agree on both the progress of the negotiations and the many points that still need to be clarified before reaching any agreement. If the two parties manage to agree, the news should be announced very quickly.
the wall street journal discusses Twitter’s first quarter earnings release on Thursday, April 28, Bloomberg going up to bet on today, Monday 25th April. The next few hours promise to be decisive for the future of Twitter, as ” worldwide free speech platform according to Elon Musk’s ambition. If the discussions were not to succeed, the richest man in the world has already declared that he would give up the 9% of the social network he already owns.