Twitter Says US Antitrust Waiting Period for Musk’s Acquisition Ended, Deal Now Subject to Closing Conditions

Twitter said on Friday that the US antitrust waiting period for Elon Musk’s $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,41,855 crore) acquisition of the social media giant had expired, indicating it had dodged a lengthy review of the proposed deal.

With the expiration, completion of the deal is now subject to remaining customary closing conditions, including approval by Twitter stockholders and any other regulatory approvals, Twitter said.

Under antitrust law, deals are reported to the US government for review by either the Justice Department or the Federal Trade Commission. If either agency had filed a “second request” for documents, the deal would have faced an investigation that could have lasted months.

However, last month Tesla Chief Executive Musk said the Twitter deal was “temporarily on hold”, while he sought more information about the proportion of fake accounts on the platform.

Musk has secured equity and debt funding for the deal.

In late morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Twitter was up about a half a percent at $40.10 (roughly Rs. 3,100) a share.

Meanwhile, US market authorities had asked Elon Musk in May to explain an apparent delay in reporting his Twitter stock buys, the latest questions on the methods and intent of his troubled bid for the platform.

Musk became a major Twitter stockholder following the purchase of 73.5 million shares in early April, and less than two weeks later launched a hostile takeover bid.

He went on to ink a $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,41,855 crore) deal to buy the San Francisco-based company, but has since given mixed signals regarding how committed he is to following through.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) letter to Musk showed regulators asked him to explain why he didn’t disclose within a required 10-day time period his increased stake in Twitter, especially if he planned to buy the company.

“Your response should address, among other things, your recent public statements on the Twitter platform regarding Twitter, including statements questioning whether Twitter rigorously adheres to free speech principles,” regulators said in the letter dated April 4.