Bhubaneswar: Twitter is nearing a deal to sell itself to Elon Musk, two people with knowledge of the situation told The New York Times.
The board of the free social networking microblogging service met on Sunday morning to discuss Musk’s unsolicited $46.5 billion bid to buy the company after the billionaire on Thursday said he had secured the necessary funding.
Twitter’s board planned to meet with Musk’s side later Sunday to discuss other contours around a potential deal.
Elon Musk has apparently told Twitter chairman Bret Taylor his original offer of $54.20 per share has not changed, The Wall Street Journal reported.
According to Bloomberg, Twitter Inc.’s board was earlier considering adopting a poison pill, known as a shareholder rights plan, to protect the company from hostile acquisition bids by making it harder for Musk to acquire more than 15 per cent of the company via the market. He currently owns 9.2 per cent of the shares.
While there is nothing certain about the deal as of now, the willingness of the board to engage with Musk is being seen as a step forward.
Notably, Musk had pledged to solve the free-speech issues he sees as plaguing the platform.
