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Shares of Twitter fell as much as 8% in premarket trading on Friday as investors braced for last-minute uncertainty. Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy the company.
Later in the morning, a bullish stock market reaction followed Bloomberg report Biden administration officials are in preliminary discussions about whether some of Musk’s businesses, including Twitter, would be subject to national security investigations.
(TWTR) take over. In response to questions from CNN, the administration retracted the report, citing people familiar with the matter.
“We are not aware of any such conversations,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said. A Treasury spokesman said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, by law and practice, “does not publicly comment on transactions it does or does not review.”
Between equity investors Several foreign entities have pledged to provide funding to help Musk finance the deal, including a Qatari sovereign wealth fund and Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who was already one of Twitter’s biggest investors before Musk’s proposed deal.
In response to a tweet about the Bloomberg report, one user wrote: “It would be hysterical if the government stopped Elon from overpaying for Twitter.” musk he answered that tweet with a “100” emoji and a crying smiley face emoji, usually signifying emphatic approval.
It is said to be unclear what impact, if any, the security investigation may have on the completion of the deal, which has been subject to months of uncertainty. There is musk it’s a week away from closing Shelving the deal or facing a rescheduled trial in Delaware Court of Chancery that could result in her being forced to buy the social media firm.
Twitter declined to comment on the report of the possible review; Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
By other accounts, the deal is nearing completion. In a separate place report Bloomberg reported late Thursday that bankers and lawyers for both Twitter and Musk were preparing the necessary documents to complete the deal. Bloomberg also reported last week that the company had frozen employee stock accounts pending completion of the deal.
In a conference call this week to discuss Tesla’s earnings results, Musk said he was “excited” about the Twitter deal, while admitting he “obviously paid a lot” for it. “The long-term potential for Twitter is, in my opinion, an order of magnitude greater than its current value,” he said.
Thursday’s Washington Post informed Musk told potential investors in the deal that the company plans to lay off about 75% of its employees, and that Twitter is already planning massive layoffs even if the deal doesn’t go through, citing internal documents and interviews with people familiar with the company. issue. Neither Twitter nor Musk’s representatives responded to requests for comment on the layoff plans.
Following the Washington Post report, Twitter’s general counsel Sean Edgett sent a memo to employees saying the company “has no immediate confirmation of the buyer’s plans and advises not to follow rumors or leaked documents, but to wait for the facts from us and the buyer directly.” According to the report of “Bloomberg”. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the note to CNN.
Musk had previously discussed drastic cuts to Twitter’s workforce in private text messages with friends, the deal was revealed in court filings, and he did not rule out potential layoffs in a call with Twitter employees in June.
— CNN’s Matt Egan contributed to this report.
