Update: Twitter on Monday confirmed it is selling the platform to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk in a deal valued at $44 billion.اضافة اعلان
WASHINGTON DC — Twitter is reconsidering
Elon Musk’s buyout proposal, with discussions
between the two camps ongoing Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported, after
the billionaire said Thursday he had secured the necessary funding.
“Twitter is taking
a fresh look at the offer and is more likely than before to seek to negotiate,”
the business daily reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Tesla CEO Musk
said Thursday he had secured close to $46.5 billion to finance the transaction,
but also that he planned to appeal directly to the company’s shareholders as he
looks to take over the social media platform.
The Twitter board
of directors had been opposed to the proposal, lining up a “poison pill” clause
that would make it harder for Musk to acquire more than 15 percent of the
company via the market. He currently owns 9.2 percent of shares.
“The potential
turnabout on Twitter’s part comes after Mr. Musk met privately Friday with
several shareholders of the company,” the Journal reported.
Musk “pledged to
solve the free-speech issues he sees as plaguing the platform and the country
more broadly, whether his bid succeeds or not,” the sources added, according to
the Journal.
Musk has
previously cited concerns over freedom of speech as motivation for buying the
platform, though free-speech experts have pointed to Musk’s unpredictable
statements and history of bullying critics as contradictory to his stated aims.
He “made his pitch
to select shareholders in a series of video calls, with a focus on actively
managed funds ... in hopes that they could sway the company’s decision,” the
sources told the Journal.
The polarizing
billionaire said last week he was considering bypassing Twitter’s board of
directors in his takeover bid by purchasing shares directly from existing
shareholders, “but has not determined whether to do so at this time,” according
to a securities filing released Thursday.
The Journal said
Twitter could make an announcement on the matter by Thursday or even before,
according to these sources.
Musk has
apparently recently told Twitter chairman
Bret Taylor his original April 14
offer of $54.20 per share has not changed, the daily added.
Twitter had previously
invited Musk to join its board of directors, but the SpaceX head declined.
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