Elon Musk may have already completed the Twitter acquisition, deal to be announced shortly [Update: It's official]

Update: Twitter has announced that the deal has been finalised and Elon Musk will be acquiring the micro-blogging platform. Twitter will be accepting Musk's original offer of $54.20 per share in cash and the deal is valued at $44 billion. The offer is approximately 5% over the current price and 35% over Twitter's share price before Musk disclosed his holdings.

Parag Agrawal, Twitter's CEO, said:

Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.

The Twitter Board of Directors unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close in 2022, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. Elon Musk has secured a "$25.5 billion of fully committed debt and margin loan financing and is providing an approximately $21.0 billion equity commitment. There are no financing conditions to the closing of the transaction."

Original Story: Just days after billionaire Elon Musk expressed his intentions to buy Twitter, it looks like the deal may have gone through.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk and Twitter's board have reached an agreement and the deal will be announced shortly after the closing bell later today. While, the details of the acquisition are still foggy, it looks like the deal will be valued $54.20 a share, or $44 billion. This is approximately 6% higher than the current share price of $51.3. Twitter share prices short up approximately 4.5% after the news of Musk meeting the company's board of directors broke.

Elon had earlier mentioned that his bid of $54.20 per share is the best and final offer so we don't expect any last minute surprises in terms of the buyout of price. Furthermore, it looks like the company has ironed out their issues with Musk as it used poison pill last week to thwart the takeover attempts. As things stand, Elon Musk should be able to add Twitter to the companies he owns, assuming there is no last minute hurdle.

Twitter is expected to announce its first-quarter earnings on Thursday but we may hear more about Musk's bid sooner.

Source: The Wall Street Journal