San Francisco: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Sunday said that the Board of Twitter should be more concerned about other potential bidders than him who has made a fair offer to acquire 100 per cent of the micro-blogging platform for $43 billion.
He was reacting to a follower who said that the Twitter board has threatened to dilute their shareholder’s stake in the company which is a sort of criminal negligence.
The Musk follower commented: “The Twitter Board, excluding Jack Dorsey, only owns 0.12% of Twitter. They have not only, behind closed doors, rejected @elonmusk’s offer to purchase the company 20% above market value.AAThey have threatened to dilute their shareholder’s stake in the company. Criminal negligence?”
Musk replied: “In fairness to the Twitter board, this might be more of a concern about other potential bidders vs just me”.
With 9.2 per cent stake, Musk is one of the largest shareholders in Twitter.
Asset management firm Vanguard Group disclosed last week that its funds now own a 10.3 per cent stake in Twitter which makes it the largest shareholder.
Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, who rejected Elon Musk’s offer, has about 5.2 per cent share in Twitter.
Global investment firm Goldman Sachs, advising the Twitter Board to decline the deal, currently has a $30 price target on Twitter’s stock, 45 per cent below Musk’s offer.
As Twitter adopts the ‘poison pill’ strategy to stop Elon Musk from forcefully buying it, the Tesla CEO is reportedly speaking to investors who could partner with him on acquiring the micro-blogging platform.
According to a report in The New York Post citing sources, “a new plan that includes partners could be announced within days”.
Musk may join “private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, which was planning to co-invest with him in 2018 when he was considering taking Tesla private”.
Egon Durban, who is the co-CEO of Silver Lake, is a Twitter board member.
“He led Musk’s deal team during the 2018 failed effort to take Tesla private,” the report said.
(IANS)
