Elon Musk has secured a $46.5 billion (over €42 billion) financing commitment to acquire Twitter and is considering starting a tender offer for its outstanding shares, according to a filing by US regulators on Thursday.
On April 14, 2022, the Tesla and SpaceX boss offered to buy all of the remaining shares in Twitter in a bid valuing the company at $43 billion (nearly €40 billion).
In a letter to Twitter’s chairman, Musk previously said the company needed to be transformed into a private company to become “the platform for free speech around the globe”.
“Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it,” he said.
A ‘tender’ offer
In recent days Musk has tweeted a cryptic message with just the words “is the Night,” with seven underscores for the blank space, a possible reference to the F. Scott Fitzgerald book Tender is the Night.
Musk had also earlier posted a tweet with “Love Me Tender,” bracketed by musical notes, referencing the song by Elvis Presley.
A tender offer would mean an offer to Twitter’s shareholders instead of the board. The offer is usually priced significantly above the current market price. This could allow Musk to own a majority stake in Twitter.
Poison pill
But Twitter had tried to thwart Musk’s takeover attempt with a “poison pill” — a financial device that companies have been wielding against unwelcome suitors for decades.
In recent weeks, Musk had amassed a more than 9 per cent stake in the social media company, making him the second-biggest shareholder. Twitter then offered Musk a position on Twitter’s board on the condition he could not buy more than 14.9 per cent of the company.
However, Musk declined the offer and made a bid to make Twitter private.
Twitter’s board is currently evaluating the bid and many investors and analysts say that rejection is likely, barring any changes to the offer from Musk.
Source: Euro News
