Twitter on track to reach deal with Musk as soon as Monday: Report
Premium- Twitter is working to hammer out terms of a transaction and could reach an agreement as soon as Monday if negotiations go smoothly
Twitter Inc, which kicked off deal negotiations with Elon Musk on Sunday, is in the final stretch of negotiations about a sale to the Tesla CEO, a person with knowledge of knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg News reports.
The microblogging site is working to hammer out terms of a transaction and could reach an agreement as soon as Monday if negotiations go smoothly, the report added.
Musk had wooed many of the social media firm's shareholders with financing details on his $43 billion acquisition offer.
Last week, he said in documents filed with US securities regulators that the money would come from Morgan Stanley and other banks, some of it secured by his huge stake in the electric car maker.
The company's decision to engage with Musk does not mean that it will accept his $54.20 per share bid. It signifies, however, that Twitter is now exploring whether a sale of the company to Musk is possible on attractive terms.
Musk, chief executive of electric car giant Tesla, has been meeting with Twitter shareholders in the last few days, seeking support for his bid.
He has said Twitter needs to be taken private to grow and become a genuine platform for free speech.
Many Twitter shareholders reached out to the firm after Musk outlined a detailed financing plan for his bid and urged it not to let the opportunity for a deal slip away.
Musk has said he wants to buy Twitter because he doesn't feel it's living up to its potential as a platform for free speech.
In recent weeks, he has voiced a number of proposed changes for the company, from relaxing its content restrictions — such as the rules that suspended former President Donald Trump's account — to ridding the platform of its problems with fake and automated accounts.
Musk is the world's wealthiest person, according to Forbes, with a nearly $279 billion fortune. But much of his money is tied up in Tesla stock — he owns about 17% of the firm, as per FactSet, which is valued at over $1 trillion — and SpaceX, his privately held space company. It's unclear how much cash Musk has.