Twitter Board Folds – “Unanimously Approves” Musk Taking Firm Private

Twitter Board Folds – “Unanimously Approves” Musk Taking Firm Private For $44 Billion

ZH

With earnings right around the corner, and having seen the shares rally all day on leak after leak, Twitter shares were halted ‘news pending’ before new hit that billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk reaches deal to acquire Twitter for approximately $44B.

“I can’t believe they just let a billionaire buy Twitter.”

-media person who works for a company owned by a billionaire

— Ben Carlson (@awealthofcs) April 25, 2022

Full Press Release:

Twitter, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk, for $54.20 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.

Under the terms of the agreement, Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing of the proposed transaction. The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter.

Bret Taylor, Twitter’s Independent Board Chair, said, “The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”

Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO, said, “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” said Mr. Musk.

“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

Transaction Terms and Financing

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Twitter Board of Directors, is expected to close in 2022, subject to the approval of Twitter stockholders, the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

Mr. Musk has secured $25.5 billion of fully committed debt and margin loan financing and is providing an approximately $21.0 billion equity commitment. There are no financing conditions to the closing of the transaction.

For further information regarding all terms and conditions contained in the definitive transaction agreement, please see Twitter’s Current Report on Form 8-K, which will be filed in connection with the transaction.

After the halt was lifted, TWTR shares traded up…

TSLA shares sold off…

Meanwhile over at Twitter HQ…

Live shot of Twitter HQ at this very moment pic.twitter.com/XceYVa0VLl

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 25, 2022

Nothing would surprise us less than if a load of ‘conservative’ Twitter accounts suddenly ‘disappeared in error’ as a soon-be-ex-employee hits the big red cancel button to save us all from the “danger to democracy” that free speech threatens.

Finally, Paul Kedrosky had some insights to offer: I try to avoid overly commenting on news of the day, but a few people have asked me via email and text why Elon is buying Twitter. I just copy/paste these four semi-serious reasons:

1) He’s a billionaire narcissist who wants to own a media company, which is a weird thing billionaire narcissists do

2) He’s buying it because Jack told him it’s buyable

3) For the same reason my dog tears eyebrows off stuffed animals: Because he can.

4) He’s buying it because it’s his main advertising channel, where he promotes Tesla. Given that he spends zero on ads, and GM spends $4b/yr, buying Twitter is like 11 years of pulled forward marketing spend. Expect Hotmail style taglines — Try Tesla — on all Tweets in future.

Interestingly, Fox News is reporting that Trump will not return to Twitter.

Someone is going to need a hug and a safe space…

*********

(TLB) published this article from ZeroHedge as compiled and written by Tyler Durden

Emphasis and article edited by (TLB) editors

Header featured image (edited) credit: Musk/(Image credit: News9)

••••

••••

Stay tuned to …

••••

The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)

••••

Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.

••••

Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.

••••

Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.