Saying that the $44 billion Twitter sale transaction with Elon Musk is in the best interest of all shareholders, Twitter Inc.'s board said it plans to enforce the agreement despite Musk's decision to put the acquisition temporarily on hold.
In a statement to Bloomberg, the board said on Tuesday, "We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement."
Directors voted earlier to unanimously recommended that shareholders approve Musk's $54.20-a-share offer, according to Business Standard.
The board's statement was released as Musk appears to be maneuvering to ditch or renegotiate his offer.
Musk Puts Twitter Acquisition Temporarily On Hold
For a week now, there have been issues that Musk is potentially renegotiating his deal to buy Twitter. He has been asking for proof that the number of spam accounts on the platform is indeed less than 5%.
Musk initially said in a tweet that if he buys Twitter, he "will defeat the spam bots or die trying." According to him, the company's reliance on advertising is the reason why it has let spam bots proliferate.
According to the Tesla CEO, his multi-billion dollar offer was based on this statistic from Twitter's SEC filings being true, implying that the company's value to him would be markedly different if it wasn't, said Mashable.
With this, Musk said that he has put the deal temporarily "on hold" until Twitter was able to provide him with the information he needed.
Mashable said that there's a chance that if Twitter will not be able to meet his demands, it's likely that he will attempt to haggle Twitter down from the initially agreed sale price of $54.20 per share, if not back out altogether.
On Tuesday, Twitter's share price was $38.32 at end of trade.
Right after Musk's announcement that the buyout is temporarily on hold, Twitter's share price plummeted to 19%.
However, even before the announcement, Twitter's market value had fallen to $9 billion beneath the offer price due to concerns about the deal.
Twitter Reaffirms Its Commitment to the Sale
In light of the event, Twitter has reaffirmed its commitment to the sale and ensuring that it pushes through. This is apparently of the attitude that Musk has touched it so he has to take it. In other words, "no takebacks!"
According to the Business Standard, the proposed takeover includes a $1 billion breakup fee for each party. Musk will have to pay this if he ends the deal or fails to deliver the acquisition funding as promised.
However, Musk might be released from that requirement if he can show a material change in the company's situation or the information it has provided.
It's only logical that Twitter would want to proceed with the deal considering that Musk agreed to pay over 140% of the social network's current value.
Musk's April bid to take over Twitter came with little preamble, jumping from a 9.2% stake straight to his first, only, and "best and final" offer for the social media within a few weeks.
The offer puts pressure on the company to accept the deal immediately.
But with Musk dilly-dallying, who knows what will happen next in this bizarre billionaire saga.
Related Article: Elon Musk Puts Twitter's $44 Billion Deal 'On Hold' Following Pending Details on Fake Accounts
