Apollo Global Management Inc is interested in helping finance a bid for Twitter Inc following Elon Musk’s US$43 billion unsolicited offer to take the company private, people familiar with the matter said.
Apollo is considering backing a potential deal for Twitter and could provide Musk or another bidder, such as private-equity firm Thoma Bravo LP, with equity or debt to support an offer, the people said, declining to be named because the discussions are private.
The participation could come in the form of credit or preferred equity, one of the people said.
Photo: Reuters
POISON PILL
Twitter shares posted their biggest gain in two weeks on Monday after the social media company launched a poison pill defense to thwart the Tesla Inc chief executive’s bid to take the company private at US$54.20 a share.
A securities filing on Monday confirmed the defense strategy Twitter outlined last week, which would allow the company to issue new stock that all shareholders except Musk could buy at a discounted price.
It imposes a “significant penalty” on any person or entity that would acquire more than 15 percent of the company without board approval, the filing said.
Musk owns just over 9 percent of Twitter shares.
“The board adopted the rights agreement to protect stockholders from coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics,” the filing said.
The stock rose 7.5 percent to US$48.45 in New York, its biggest jump since April 4.
Twitter has been fielding takeover interest from other parties, including technology-focused private equity firm Thoma Bravo, a person familiar with the matter said.
Private equity firm Silver Lake, which already owns a significant stake in Twitter, would also make sense as a partner as it has an existing relationship with Musk, but it is unclear if it is interested.
ORACLE
Meanwhile, Musk might partner with Oracle Corp and a private equity consortium that includes Thoma Bravo to thwart Twitter’s poison pill, “while raising the bid 10 to 15 percent to about US$50 billion,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts said.
Musk, for his part, has said that any rejection of his bid would cause him to re-evaluate his stake. Over the weekend, Musk said that the economic interests of Twitter’s board are not aligned with shareholders.
He was responding to a tweet about board members’ stock holdings, saying that with the impending departure of cofounder Jack Dorsey, the board “collectively owns almost no shares.”
In a Twitter post on Monday, Musk said that if his Twitter bid succeeds, board members would not be given a salary.
Tesla has paid its own directors an annual cash retainer of about US$20,000 plus certain additional fees in recent years, but they also each receive stock option grants every few years — meaning they stand to make tens of millions of dollars or more with Tesla’s stock price gains.
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
CHANGING JAPAN: Nvidia-powered AI services over cellular networks ‘will result in an artificial intelligence grid that runs across Japan,’ Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said Softbank Group Corp would be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design, a demonstration of the Japanese company’s ambitions to catch up on artificial intelligence (AI). The group’s telecom unit, Softbank Corp, plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support local services, it said. That computer would be based on Nvidia’s DGX B200 product, which combines computer processors with so-called AI accelerator chips. A follow-up effort will feature Grace Blackwell, a more advanced version, the company said. The announcement indicates that Softbank Group, which until early 2019 owned 4.9 percent of Nvidia, has secured a
TECH SECURITY: The deal assures that ‘some of the most sought-after technology on the planet’ returns to the US, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said The administration of US President Joe Biden finalized its CHIPS Act incentive awards for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), marking a major milestone for a program meant to bring semiconductor production back to US soil. TSMC would get US$6.6 billion in grants as part of the contract, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. Though the amount was disclosed earlier this year as part of a preliminary agreement, the deal is now legally binding — making it the first major CHIPS Act award to reach this stage. The chipmaker, which is also taking up to US$5 billion
RSS