According to a report published on Tuesday by Bloomberg News, Twitter has blocked equity award accounts for staff only a few days before the deadline to conclude its transaction with Elon Musk. This is a hint that the social media company expects the deal to be finalized.
Following the publication of the article, Twitter stock rose 1.8% to close at $51.60, which is still less than Musk’s offer price of $54.20 per share.
The court in Delaware has ordered Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla, and Twitter to complete the $44 billion transaction by October 28. The transaction was publicized for the first time in April.
According to the report, the social media giant modified its employee FAQ website this week to inform staff members that they won’t be able to access or exchange shares via the Equity Award Center. The modification was made in response to the news.
The page said the change was made “in anticipation of the closing of the pending acquisition of Twitter by an entity controlled by Elon Musk,” according to the report, citing two people familiar with the change.
In May, Musk made an attempt to back out of the arrangement. He said that Twitter had lied about how many spam and bot accounts were on the social media site. This led to a number of lawsuits between the two sides.
Following Musk’s announcement earlier this month that he would go through with the acquisition on its original terms, the judge who was slated to preside over the case decided to postpone the proceeding that was set to take place this week.
