Elon Musk agreed to shop for Twitter Inc. for $44 billion, finishing weeks of hypothesis after he took a stake withinside the social media platform this month.
The assertion Monday showed among the information that had already been reported — or tweeted — approximately the transaction. It additionally left many unanswered questions. Here`s what we recognize so far, what nonetheless wishes to be clarified, and what would possibly take place next.
What We Recognize
The Price: Musk stated in his authentic bid for Twitter that he would not budge from the charge of $54.20 in keeping with share. He caught to that promise, saying the all-coins deal for precisely that amount. Though his preliminary submission valued the provider at $43 billion primarily based totally at the company’s awesome stock, Monday’s affirmation bumped that discern to $44 billion. That`s possibly a quirk of the numbers of stocks being counted, as opposed to any adjustment to the price.
The Financing (component one): This is a large leveraged buyout. As Musk found out remaining week, he`s raised $25.five billion of completely dedicated debt and margin mortgage financing from a dozen banks to lower back the bid. When the deal is completed, Twitter becomes a privately held company.
Who Will Own Twitter: This may sound obvious, however Twitter has agreed to promote itself to an entity “thoroughly owned” by way of means of Musk. No co-buyers have been named withinside the statement (extra on that below) and the wording implies any that do be a part of will quantity to no extra than minority stakeholders.
Breakup Fee: Monday`s declaration did not monitor whether or not both facets had agreed to pay a termination price if the transaction falls aside, however Bloomberg News mentioned that Musk may be at the hook if the deal falls aside or if he walks away. Break costs on a deal this length can run to billions of dollars, giving him a large monetary incentive to look it through.
What We Don`t
The Financing (element two): Though the declaration reiterated that Musk is “presenting an approximately $21 billion fairness dedication,” there had been no similar information about wherein that cash could come from. Now that the deal has become friendly, non-public fairness companies — who normally shrink back from opposed transactions — are probably much more likely to return back on board and write him a check. For a dedication this size, upwards of 4 or 5 exceptional companies may be concerned in what is generally called a syndicated, or club, deal. Some present shareholders may also determine to roll their Twitter stakes into the non-public company. All of which means that Musk may not be at the hook for a whole lot of the cash himself, which may be a remedy to shareholders of Tesla Inc., who have been concerned he’d promote his stake withinside the electric powered carmaker to fund Twitter.
Who Will Run Twitter: Both Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal and Chairman Bret Taylor have been quoted withinside the statement, so they`re nevertheless of their roles, for now. Over the beyond couple of weeks Musk has time and again tweeted his dissatisfaction with Twitter`s board and the way the enterprise has been run, and control adjustments are not unusualplace whilst a enterprise receives bought. But Musk is already CEO of each Tesla and SpaceX, so his capability to tackle every other hands-on management position may be limited.
How Twitter Will Be Run: Musk has spoken brazenly approximately his plans to make the platform a haven for unfettered speech online, and complained that the provider is simply too heavy-exceeded in terms of moderating consumer tweets. Hours earlier than the deal was announced, he tweeted that “I wish that even my worst critics continue to be on Twitter, due to the fact that’s what unfastened speech means.” He`s additionally floated thoughts approximately turning the company’s headquarters right into a homeless shelter, eliminating advertisements for paid customers and including to the platform’s authentication checks
What`s Subsequent
The Filing: Many of those information have to be cleared up in a submitting that Twitter is needed to make with the Securities and Exchanges Commission, called a Form 8-K. Companies commonly have 4 commercial enterprise days to make this form of submitting, so we have to recognise greater with the aid of using the stop of the week, on the latest.
Twitter`s First-Quarter Results: Amid all of this, Twitter is scheduled to announce its modern income on Thursday, earlier than the marketplace opens. The business enterprise isn’t always making plans to keep a convention name to enter the information of the deal — or the monetary results — however they will deliver buyers a glimpse into the country of the enterprise that Musk is buying.