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Musk In Talks With Investors To Join His Bid To Take Over Twitter: Report

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Elon Musk is reportedly speaking with other investors about joining his bid to purchase Twitter.

Sources told the New York Post that a partnership could be announced within days after Musk formally offered last week to completely buy Twitter for just over $40 billion.

The Post went on to allege that Musk could possibly work with Silver Lake Partners, a company the Tesla CEO has worked with in the past.

“One possibility, the sources said: teaming with private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, which was planning to co-invest with him in 2018 when he was considering taking Tesla private. Silver Lake’s Co-CEO Egon Durban is a Twitter board member and led Musk’s deal team during the 2018 failed effort to take Tesla private, sources said. Silver Lake declined to comment,” the Post reported.

“For its part, Twitter on Friday adopted a so-called poison pill — a corporate move that prevents Musk from acquiring more than 15% of the company. But that pill may not stop other entities or people from acquiring their own shares of up to 15% of the company. Those owners could partner with Musk to force a sale, make changes in the executive ranks or push for other overhauls of the company,” the report added.

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“This is not over,” a source told the New York Post.

The saga between Musk and Twitter has changed by the day.

During a TED talk last week, host Chris Anderson asked Musk if there was a “Plan B” if his current offer to buy Twitter in an all-cash deal were rejected.

“There is,” Musk said.

WATCH:

Musk announced that he had hired Morgan Stanley as an advisor to help with the takeover of the social media giant.

Prior to that, it was speculated that his decision not to take the job means he is now free to improve his position within the company, as in, buy more stock.

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Musk signed an agreement with Twitter for the following terms as long as he serves on the board: “Mr. Musk agrees that, for so long as Mr. Musk is serving on the Board and for 90 days thereafter, Mr. Musk will not, either alone or as a member of a group, become the beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of Company’s common stock outstanding at such time, including for these purposes economic exposure through derivative securities, swaps or hedging transactions.”

But since Musk declined to join Twitter’s board, he is no longer bound by that stipulation, journalist Yashar Ali noted.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said in a statement that it was Musk’s decision to not join the company’s board after he was offered a seat.

“Elon Musk has decided not to join our board,” Agrawal said. “The Board and I had many discussions about Elon joining the board, and with Elon directly. We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks. We also believed that having Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interests of the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward. The board offered him a seat.”

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“We announced on Tuesday that Elon would be appointed to the Board contingent on a background check and formal acceptance,” Agrawal continued. “Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board. I believe this is for the best.

“We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input,” Agrawal added.

“There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged,” the statement added. “The decisions we make and how we execute are in our hands, no one else’s. Let’s tune out the noise, and stay focused on the work and what we’re building.”

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