The majority of Twitter’s shareholders voted in favor of selling the social media company for $44 billion to Elon Musk, according to sources familiar with the vote on Monday. The sources told Reuters that the deadline for shareholders to vote on the deal is Tuesday, but enough investors had voted by Monday evening. The sources requested anonymity before the official announcement. Twitter and Musk's representatives have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Musk had informed Twitter that he would not proceed with the acquisition, arguing that he had been misled about spam accounts on the platform and was not notified of a financial settlement reached by the company with one of its top executives. Both parties are set to fight their legal battle in court next month.
It was widely expected that shareholders would vote in favor of selling the company after a decline in the stock market made Musk's $54.20 per share deal, which both parties signed in April, appear overpriced in the current conditions. Twitter's stock is currently hovering around $41.
Earlier on Monday, Twitter stated that the funds paid to a former executive who reported misconduct did not violate any terms of its sale to Musk, after the world’s richest man made another attempt to cancel the deal. Twitter’s lawyers contended that Musk’s reasons for wanting to back out of the deal are "invalid and incorrect."
Musk's lawyers stated last week that Twitter's failure to obtain his consent before paying $7.75 million to whistleblower Peter Zatko and his attorney breached the merger agreement, which restricts when Twitter can make such payments.
Zatko, who was fired from his position as head of security at Twitter in January, accused the social media company last month of falsely claiming it had a robust security plan and making misleading statements about its methods to combat hackers and spam accounts. Zatko is set to meet with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to discuss these allegations.
The Delaware court is scheduled to hear the case between Musk and Twitter on October 17.
