Musk's $44 billion buyout of Twitter faces U.S. antitrust review -report
Reuters
Published May 05, 2022 01:25PM ET
Updated May 05, 2022 09:25PM ET
(Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reviewing Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Chief Executive Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing a person familiar with the deal.
The FTC declined to comment, while Musk could not be reached for comment.
The agency will decide in the next month whether it will do an in-depth antitrust probe of the proposed transaction, the person told Bloomberg. Such a probe would delay the deal's closing by months.
Antitrust experts have said there is little likelihood the agency will find any evidence that Musk's purchase of Twitter is illegal under antitrust law.
The FTC is already investigating Musk's initial purchase of a 9% stake in Twitter, probing whether he complied with an antitrust reporting requirement when he acquired the shares in early April.
One critic of the deal has been Open Markets Institute, which said that it should be stopped to avoid giving an already powerful man "direct control over one of the world's most important platforms for public communications and debate." It also cited Musk's ownership of the satellite communications company Starlink as a concern.
The deal has the support of Republicans, who hope conservatives banned from the site, like former President Donald Trump, will be allowed to return.
While Musk has tweeted about free speech, when he discusses plans for Twitter he focuses more on helping revenues by getting more people to use it or cutting such expenses as executive pay. He has said nothing publicly about allowing banned former users to return.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.