Twitter is facing mounting pressure from its shareholders to not allow Elon Musk’s multibillion dollar offer slip away as the company and Musk were reportedly set to meet on Sunday to talk about his offer.
The news comes as Musk has already stated that he will not go higher than his initial $54.20 bid per share, and he recently disclosed that he has $46.5 billion in financing ready to go to buy out the company.
“A concern that Twitter’s board is weighing is that unless it seeks to negotiate a deal with Musk, many shareholders could back him in a tender offer,” Reuters reported. “While the poison pill would prevent Twitter shareholders from tendering their shares, the company is worried that its negotiating hand would weaken considerably if it was shown to be going against the will of many of its investors.”
The company has reportedly shifted gears in regard to Musk’s offer after he disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing last week that he has the money to back up his offer.
“Twitter had been expected to rebuff the offer, which Mr. Musk made earlier this month without saying how he would pay for it,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. “But after he disclosed last week that he now has $46.5 billion in financing, Twitter is taking a fresh look at the offer and is more likely than before to seek to negotiate.”
Reuters’ report said that the company may try to force a better deal out of Musk by showing him the company’s books or by soliciting offers from other potential buyers.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to wake up next week and see Musk raise what he called his best and final offer to possibly $64.20 per share,” a fund manager who is invested in Twitter told Reuters. “He could also drop the whole thing entirely. Anything is possible.”
The latest developments come after Musk listed in a new SEC filing that he had secured $46.5 billion from three sources to buy the company, including $13 billion from Morgan Stanley, $12.5 billion from other banks, and $21 billion from himself.
“If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!” Musk tweeted after the SEC filing was disclosed. “And authenticate all real humans.”
Musk is reportedly still considering taking his bid directly to shareholders by launching a tender offer, which could come as early as this week.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) notes that a “tender offer” “is typically an active and widespread solicitation by a company or third party (often called the ‘bidder’ or ‘offeror’) to purchase a substantial percentage of the company’s securities.”
A tender offer is only available for a short period of time and is made to everyone who owns stock in the company. The price offered to purchase the shares is fixed and usually comes at a premium rate compared to the current market value of the stock.