(New York) Twitter shares rose about 4% on Monday in early trading on Wall Street as several US media reported that the social network was about to accept Elon Musk’s takeover offer. .
Posted at 10:16 a.m.
Updated at 10:19 a.m.
According to several sources, cited in particular by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and CNBC, the group could announce on 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 about $38.5 billion today.
Mr. Musk indicated last week that he had secured $46.5 billion to complete the acquisition. He also raised the possibility of launching a hostile takeover bid (OPA) directly through shareholders and bypassing the board of directors (CA).
According to US media, Twitter’s board met Sunday morning to review the billionaire’s proposal.
The management body had originally shown itself hostile to the takeover offer 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 capital of the social network.
With more than 82 million subscribers, the richest man on the planet uses his Twitter account almost every day to give news of his companies, jokes 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.
Asked by AFP, Twitter did not react immediately.