MEMBERS of Twitter’s Board of Directors are currently in final talks to sell the company to billionaire Elon Musk, who proposed an unsolicited offer to buy the social media platform and privatise it.
According to reports, Twitter is now in the final stages of negotiations with Musk to buy the business.
The 11-member board negotiated with him into the early hours of Monday after Twitter had initially snubbed the billionaire’s approach.
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A Reuters report says an announcement of the acquisition may come up later on Monday after Twitter’s board meeting and the acceptance of recommendations of the deal by its shareholders.
Also, Twitter shares rose almost four per cent to $50.62 on Monday following the acquisition reports but remained below Musk’s offer price of $54.20 a share.
As of Monday, no agreement has been finalised. Musk’s $43 billion hostile takeover bid follows his plan that would allow shareholders to purchase additional stock.
Musk who is also the boss of electric carmaker Tesla had in early April bought a 9.2 per cent stake in the social media company.
Twitter had put in place a so-called “poison pill” defense to fend off Musk. The mechanism would have created difficulties for Musk if he attempted to increase his stake in the company.
However, Twitter appears to have made a U-turn after Musk lined up a $46.5 billion financing package for his offer – with funding from his own assets and the backing of Wall Street banking giant Morgan Stanley and other firms.
Musk said that he believes that Twitter should be more open and transparent, and also criticised its process of verifying a Twitter account saying it was like “if Kafka had a Magic 8-Ball!”.
“I think it’s very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech,” he said at the TED2022 conference in Vancouver, Canada.
The billionaire, who is the world’s richest man according to Forbes magazine, has also hinted at his plans for Twitter.
Amos Abba is a journalist with the International Center for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, who believes that courageous investigative reporting is the key to social justice and accountability in the society.