Musk signals renewed commitment to Twitter purchase
New York, May 25 (EFE).- Shares of Twitter rose in after-hours trading Wednesday after Elon Musk said in a regulatory filing that he is prepared to front $33.5 billion of his $44 billion bid to take the social media company private.
In a statement to the United States Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said that in lieu of a $12.5 billion margin loan that was part of the original bid, he was increasing “the aggregate principle amount of the equity commitment” to $33.5 billion.
Musk, reputed to be the world’s wealthiest person, also indicated that he in talks with major shareholders, including Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, about the possibility of rolling over their shares to complete the transaction.
Coincidentally, Dorsey stepped down Wednesday from Twitter’s board, a planned move that was announced when he resigned the CEO post last November.
Twitter said then that Dorsey would remain on the company board “until his term expires at the 2022 meeting of stockholders.”
Musk, a South African-born US citizen, disclosed in early April that he had accumulated 9.2 percent of Twitter in a series of purchases going back to January, giving him a larger stake in the firm than any other individual investor.
Twitter responded to the disclosure by offering him a seat on the board, which he initially accepted, only to reverse course on April 9.
Five days later, he signaled his desire to buy the company and take it private. And after adopting a “poison pill” provision aimed at blocking the acquisition, the Twitter board accepted Musk’s offer.
Several weeks ago, however, Musk said he was putting the deal on hold pending receipt of data from Twitter substantiating the spam and fake accounts account for less than 5 percent of users. EFE
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