As per the New York Stock Exchange website, trading in Twitter Inc. shares will be paused on Friday because entrepreneur Elon Musk faces a court-ordered on October 28 to complete his acquisition of the social media platform costing $44 billion.
Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, visited Twitter’s San Francisco offices on Wednesday and implied that he was the company’s top executive by changing his profile bio to “Chief Twit.”
Reuters stated on Tuesday that Musk’s attorneys had provided the necessary documentation for the finance pledge to equity investors Sequoia Capital, Binance, Qatar Investment Authority, and others.
The closing of the transaction would put an end to Twitter’s litigation. Twitter, together with the investors, now anticipates that the transaction will close at the agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share.
On Wednesday, the NYSE saw the company’s stock close at $53.35 per share. They were trading slightly below Musk’s offer price in extended trading, up nearly 1% at $53.90.
Elon Musk earlier planned to fire Twitter’s staff
Earlier, according to the reports, Elon Musk planned to fire nearly three-quarters of Twitter’s staff to reduce the company’s headcount from 7,500 to just over 2,000.
Accordingly, the Biden administration was considering a national security investigation of Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, in part due to the fact that Musk’s investment group comprises Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
Officials in the Biden administration are alarmed by Musk’s apparent support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Washington Post also stated that if Musk’s acquisition of Twitter goes through, he intends to significant personnel reductions.
According to the Post, when presenting the acquisition to investors, Musk stated that he intended to lay off close to 75 percent of Twitter’s staff, reducing its headcount from 7,500 to a little over 2,000.
Despite Musk’s attempts to back out of the takeover agreement, Twitter had filed a lawsuit to enforce the terms of the agreement.
US Judge gave a week to complete the megadeal
After Musk expressed a change of heart, a US judge recently put the saga’s litigation on hold and gave the parties until October 28 to complete the megadeal.
The alleged 75 percent personnel reduction at Twitter was deemed “far too harsh” by Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who also noted that “Musk cannot slash his way to growth with Twitter.”
