Elon Musk’s $44 Billion Twitter Deal Gets Board Endorsement

According to a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Twitter’s board has recommended unanimously that shareholders approve the proposed $44 billion sale of the company to billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Musk reiterated his desire to move forward with the acquisition last week during a virtual meeting with Twitter employees, though shares of Twitter remain far below his offering price, signaling considerable doubt that it will happen.

The stock rose nearly 3% to $38.98 before the opening bell on Tuesday, which is $54.20 per share for each of the shares Musk offered. The company’s stock last reached that level on April 5 when it offered Musk a seat on the board, before offering to buy all of Twitter.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission detailing on Tuesday detailing a letter to investors, Twitter’s board of directors said that it “unanimously recommends that you vote (for) the adoption of the merger agreement.” If the deal were to close now, investors in the company would pocket a profit of $15.22 for each share they own.

Recall that Elon Musk put his $44 billion deal for Twitter “temporarily on hold” on Friday, May 13, while he awaits data on the proportion of its fake accounts, sending the shares in the social media platform plunging.

“Twitter deals temporarily on hold pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5% of users,” Musk wrote on Twitter. As at then, it wasn’t clear whether the issue could scuttle the deal but few hours later, Musk later tweeted that he’s “still committed to acquisition.”