Musk Buyout Bombshell: Look for a Deal Today
According to multiple sources familiar with the issue, Twitter is finally prepared to accept Elon Musk’s offer to buy up the company in its entirety, Reuters reported Monday morning.
The report said the social media giant was “poised to agree” to Musk’s offer of roughly $43 billion in cash.
Since the self-made billionaire made his first offer to buy up 100 percent of the company, Twitter’s board has remained uncooperative. In fact, at one point the board even adopted a “poison pill” strategy to thwart Musk’s bid by diluting his shares of the company.
These efforts apparently have failed.
I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
“I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,” Musk tweeted on Monday, suggesting he had either acquired or was soon to acquire the platform.
According to Reuters, Twitter’s board was set to meet on Monday to recommend the transaction to Twitter shareholders.
Sources did caution the outlet, however, that “it is always possible that the deal collapses at the last minute.”
That being the case, the board will recommend that shareholders accept Musk’s first and final offer of $54.20 per share.
Both parties — Musk and Twitter representatives — reportedly met on Sunday to iron out many of the deal’s details.
On Sunday, sources told The Wall Street Journal that after Musk announced he had acquired $46.5 billion in financing in his bid for the company, Twitter decided to take “a fresh look at the offer” and was now “more likely than before to seek to negotiate.”
“Twitter is still working on an all-important estimate of its own value, which would need to come in close to Mr. Musk’s offer, and it could also insist on sweeteners such as Mr. Musk agreeing to cover breakup protections should the deal fall apart,” the report said.
Those same sources indicated to the Wall Street Journal that no matter whether the deal goes through, Musk will remain a key part of the company’s dealings going forward.
On Friday, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO reportedly met with “several” shareholders and assured them of as much.
During this meeting, he “pledged to solve the free-speech issues he sees as plaguing the platform … whether his bid succeeds or not,” the sources said.
In an April 20 interview with The Western Journal, Aron Solomon, chief legal analyst for Esquire Digital, laid out exactly what such a “Twitter endgame” for Musk would look like.
In the interview, Solomon correctly predicted Musk would make an offer to buy up the majority of Twitter, which the billionaire did only days later.
Solomon predicted Musk would leverage social media to his advantage.
He also said Musk would move fast to ensure the deal was done “within days.” Should Monday’s talks prove fruitful, this will have been yet another accurate prediction.
“Where Twitter goes from here following Musk’s acquisition is honestly anybody’s guess,” Solomon told The Western Journal on Monday.
“What is certain,” he said, “is that Musk and any other people who helped facilitate his bid are banking on the fact that Elon Musk at the helm of Twitter is going to cause not only a spike in the price of the shares, but allow Twitter to grow and scale as it has yet to prove that it can do in its history.
“While many people were and are concerned that Twitter may become a completely open playing field with no filters on speech, the forum for free-speech angle may have simply been a distraction for Musk to acquire control of what he sees to be a company that can dramatically increase in value.
“It would be very surprising if Elon Musk did anything, especially in the short term, to jeopardize the value of Twitter. Twitter will absolutely change and continue to evolve as a platform, but anyone who is expecting these changes to happen overnight is going to be sorely disappointed.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
