When Tesla chief Elon Musk announced a $43 billion takeover bid for Twitter at $54.20 per share, few people thought it would happen. Now, the deal is on the verge of happening.
At first, Twitter wanted nothing to do with the deal. In mid-April, Twitter’s board of directors expressed their opposition to Musk’s offer by unanimously adopting a shareholder rights plan. Should Musk or anyone else acquire 15% or more of Twitter’s outstanding common stock, the board would offer other shareholders more stock at a discounted price. That would dilute Musk’s stake in the company.
That was then. This is now.
For $46.5 billion, Twitter’s board appears ready to make a deal. Musk, a contender for the world’s richest man, will be financing the acquisition out of his own pocket and with funds from Barclays, Bank of America, Societe Generale, Mizuho Bank, Morgan Stanley, and other banks. Some of the financing will be secured by his massive Tesla holdings, but neither SpaceX nor Tesla will be directly involved in the deal.
Once Musk has Twitter, he has proposed a number of changes to the popular social network. These include taking the company private, relaxing its content restriction, and ridding the platform of its troublesome fake and automated accounts.
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