Twitter is in ‘advanced’ takeover talks with Elon Musk, the Wall Street Journal reported, but billionaire Tesla CEO isn’t likely to budge from his “best and final”” offer of $43 billion.
Twitter (TWTR) – Get Twitter, Inc. Report shares were a rare pre-market gainer Monday amid reports that executives on the board of the social group have started takeover talks with billionaire Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report CEO Elon Musk.
Musk, who made an unsolicited $43 billion offer to take the company private earlier this month, pricing the group at a “best and final” $54.20 per share, has lined-up $46.5 billion in financing as part of his pursuit, according to SEC filings last week, and has been wooing shareholders via this Twitter account — which has more than 81 million followers — for much of the past two weeks.
The financing is tied to conditions linked to Musk’s ‘unencumbered’ shares in Tesla; Musk owns around 173 million shares in the clean-energy carmaker, around 88 million of which have been used to secure various personal loans.
The Wall Street Journal said Twitter is in ‘advanced’ talks with Musk, adding a deal could me made public as early as this week.
Reuters reported Sunday that while Twitter has not yet decided to accept Musk’s bid, which both the company and some of its major shareholders have derided as too low, it is nonetheless ready to engage on both the merits of the proposed takeover and any legal entanglements from Musk’s many run-ins with the SEC in his role as Tesla boss.
Twitter shares were marked 1% higher in pre-market trading to indicate an opening bell price of $49.42 each.
Musk would likely need a board recommendation to complete his purchase of the group after Twitter adopted a so-called ‘poison pill’ defense earlier this month. The move allows existing shareholders to buy more Twitter stock at a discount should any one, or a group of, investors gain control of 15% of the company without board approval.
Another risk hinges on the opinion of Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, who considers himself one of Twitter’s “largest and long-term shareholders” and has said Musk’s bid doesn’t come close to matching “the intrinsic value of Twitter given its growth prospects”
