Fakoyejo Olalekan
Elon Musk lost -2.23% of his wealth on Tuesday after Twitter shareholders voted for the company to be offloaded to the billionaire, further affecting Musk’s plan to withdraw from the acquisition agreement.
The world’s richest man had been fighting to get out of the contract that ties him to a mandatory takeover of Twitter, which will cost Musk $44 billion.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelTwitter’s shareholders had met for the first time since Musk announced his intention to acquire the social media in April, and when he disclosed that he wants to terminate the deal in May.
While the board of Twitter had agreed to sell, the management had not received the approval of shareholders to accept Musk’s $54.20 per share buyout offer (which is 27.9% more than the current share price of $42.35) until on Tuesday.
A vote against the buyout offer could have played in favour of Musk, but the shareholders’ decision to support the board increases the pressure on Musk to buy the company if he should lose the court battle against the company which starts October 17. Twitter plans to use the court to force Musk to acquire the firm as planned.
Following today’s decision, Tesla’s stock plummeted -3.04% to $295.18, thereby wiping off $6.1 billion, representing -2.23%, from wealth of Musk, who depends on his investment in Tesla to complete the amount needed to buy Twitter.
So far, Musk has sold about $8 billion worth of Tesla stock to finance the deal, and the more he sells his shares, other shareholders investment could depreciate in value, as investors will engage in a sell off out of fear that the stock could turn negative in the long run.
Already, Tesla’s share is down -26.05% year-to-date amid uncertainty surrounding the acquisition of Twitter due to the court battle.
The $6.1 billion lost by Musk reduced his total wealth to $267.8 billion, but the billionaire retains the number one position as the world’s richest man.
