Elon Musk seems to be getting closer to his goal of buying Twitter, while several American media claimed on Monday that the group was on the verge of accepting the billionaire’s offer, which raised the action on Wall Street.
Around 3:40 p.m. GMT, the action of the social network, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, took 3.75% to 50.77 dollars.
According to several sources, cited in particular by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and CNBC, the group might announce as early as Monday its acquisition by the boss of Tesla, who offered in mid-April to take over all of the group at a price of 54.20 dollars per share and to remove the platform from the New York Stock Exchange.
If this offer were accepted as is, it would value Twitter at $43 billion, up from regarding $38.5 billion today.
Asked by AFP, Twitter did not react immediately.
Mr. Musk had indicated last week that he had secured $46.5 billion to complete the acquisition using two bank loans from Morgan Stanley, as well as his personal fortune.
He also raised the possibility of launching a hostile takeover bid (OPA) directly through shareholders and bypassing the board of directors (CA).
“Once the financing was put in place with the threat of a hostile takeover, the board might no longer resort to a white knight or a second bidder,” noted Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities on CNBC.
“It put their backs to the wall and forced them to come to the negotiating table,” added the analyst.
– Meeting on Sunday –
According to US media, Twitter’s board met Sunday morning to review the billionaire’s proposal.
Two days earlier, the South African-born entrepreneur spoke with several shareholders, via several video calls, to defend his takeover offer.
The group’s management body, made up of 11 members, was originally hostile to it by adopting a so-called “poison pill” clause to make the acquisition more difficult.
The clause provides that if a shareholder reaches more than 15% of the capital of Twitter, the board of directors reserves the right to sell off the shares for all other holders of securities. Mr. Musk currently owns just over 9% of the social network’s common stock.
Shortly following entering the capital of the company, the whimsical boss had been invited to join the CA, but he had declined this offer.
With more than 83 million subscribers, the richest man on the planet (his fortune is estimated at $269 billion by Forbes) uses his Twitter account almost daily to share news regarding his businesses. , joke or launch provocations.
He promised to transform the social network to make it “the platform for freedom of expression around the world” without detailing the changes he intended to implement, except for certain features such as the addition of an “edit” button to correct a tweet following publication.
Some observers believe that Mr. Musk might reauthorize deleted accounts, including that of Donald Trump and some of his supporters.
The former US president was permanently suspended from Twitter in January 2021 for calling to challenge the results of the presidential election and inviting violence.
“Entrusting the reins of Twitter to Mr. Musk is sure to unleash conspiracy theories that the platform has tried to suppress,” reacted Angelo Carusone, president of the progressive NGO Media Matters for America. “Any attempt to use the platform to share legitimate information will be overshadowed by a toxic quagmire of misinformation. »
Another area Elon Musk might also want to invest in is to make Twitter more profitable and increase user growth.
He has already suggested changes to the paid membership plan for microblogging site, Twitter Blue.
The San Francisco group must publish its quarterly results Thursday before the opening of Wall Street.
