Musk holds a 9.6% stake in Twitter worth $3.6 billion (Brian Lawless/PA)
(Picture: PA Archive)One of Wall Street’s biggest private equity houses is prepared to help Elon Musk take Twitter private.
Apollo Global Management is interested in providing debt or equity to support a takeover bid of the social media giant, according to reports by Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.
Twitter shares closed up 7.6% in New York yesterday amid speculation that the deal may yet get done.
Musk surprised the world last week with a bid to take Twitter private with an offer of $54.20 per share.
To thwart the takeover, Twitter has adopted a defence strategy known as the “poison pill,” in which it issues more shares to prevent an individual shareholder from building a larger position in the company.
In a filing released on Monday, the company said the strategy would “protect stockholders from coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics.”
The company previously enthusiastically announced the appointment of Elon Musk to its board, with CEO Parag Agrawal tweeting: “Through conversation with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.”
Later, Agrawal announced that Musk would no longer be joining the board, tweeting a statement in which he said he “believe[s] this is for the best,” adding “there will be distractions ahead.”
Musk currently holds a 9.6% stake in Twitter worth $3.6 billion (£2.7 billion). He has threatened to sell his holding if he cannot buy the company outright.
The Tesla CEO has expressed criticism of the platform, quote-tweeting a list of the most followed Twitter accounts, saying: “Most of these ‘top’ accounts tweet rarely and post very little content. Is Twitter dying?”
The Twitter board would not be salaried if Musk took it over, he suggested in a tweet over the weekend.
Apollo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
