Twitter in talks with Elon Musk about his acquisition plan | business news

Twitter is in talks with Elon Musk about his plan to take over the company amid growing expectations that the social media platform will agree a price with the billionaire.

Twitter’s board and Musk negotiated their offer to buy the platform into early Monday morning, The New York Times reported, with shares rising 4% in early trading as speculation about a deal mounted.

the richest man in the world has offered to buy the social network for $43bn (£33.5bn) – and has accused the company of failing to uphold free speech.

Twitter recently adopted a “poison pill” strategy in an attempt to resist a hostile takeover, but some investors want the tech giant to give its offer serious consideration.

According to Reuters, some shareholders wanted Twitter to pursue a better deal with Musk, urging him not to let this opportunity slip away.

Musk previously described his offer of $54.20 per share as “the best and final”, but given that the social network will publish quarterly results on Thursday, Twitter’s board may argue that this price is too low.

Beyond encouraging Tesla’s CEO to improve his offer, other options for the company include attracting bids from rivals.

A fund manager who invested on Twitter told Reuters: “I wouldn’t be surprised to wake up next week and see Musk raising what he called his best and last offer to possibly $64.20 a share.”

Musk argues that the social network must be private in order to grow and become a genuine platform for free speech.

The billionaire also wants to address other problems facing the social network, such as the proliferation of bots that distribute spam messages.

And it has considered adding new features, including an edit button, as well as reducing Twitter’s reliance on advertising and allowing longer tweets to be posted.

Shares of Twitter were trading at $48.93 as of Friday’s close on Wall Street, meaning Musk’s offer represents a 10% premium to that price.

Some hedge funds think it’s a good deal, arguing that concerns about inflation and an economic slowdown mean Twitter shares are unlikely to be worth more than $54.20 any time soon.

But long-term shareholders argue that Twitter is worth much more, and just six months ago, shares were trading at $62.11.

In other developments, the Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter is reexamining Musk’s offer, not least because the billionaire now has funding for a deal.

According to the outlet, both parties met on Sunday to discuss the proposal, and the social network “is more likely than before to seek to negotiate.”

Musk also met privately with several Twitter shareholders to highlight the potential benefits of his acquisition.