Twitter in talks with Elon Musk over bid to buy platform: Reports
Washington, Apr 25: Twitter's board is negotiating with Elon Musk over his bid to buy the social media platform and a deal could be announced as early as Monday, according to media reports.
Twitter and Musk negotiated into the early hours Monday over his bid to buy the social media platform, The New York Times reported, less than two weeks after the billionaire first revealed a massive stake.
Musk said last week that he had lined up USD 46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, putting pressure on the company's board to negotiate a deal.
The Times, citing people with knowledge of the situation who it did not identify, said the two sides were discussing details including a timeline and fees if an agreement was signed and then fell apart. The people said the situation was fluid and fast-moving.
Before the opening bell Monday, shares of Twitter Inc. rose 5%.
Twitter had enacted an anti-takeover measure known as a poison pill that could make a takeover attempt prohibitively expensive. But the board decided to negotiate after Musk updated his proposal to show he had secured financing, according to The Wall Street Journal, which was first to report the negotiations were underway.
Also, a rival bidder to Musk may not be stepping up any time soon, fearful of the byzantine task of moderating content on the platform, something that Musk has vowed to do less of.
The Twitter Board could not find a white knight and with Musk's financing detailed the clock has essentially struck midnight for the board which is why negotiations have begun to get a deal done, said Dan Ives, who follows Twitter for Wedbush Securities.
On April 14, Musk announced an offer to buy the social media platform for USD 54.20 per share, or about USD 43 billion, but did not say at the time how he would finance the acquisition.
Last week, he said in documents filed with U.S. securities regulators that the money would come from Morgan Stanley and other banks, some of it secured by his huge stake in the electric car maker.
Twitter has not commented.
Musk has said he wants to buy Twitter because he doesn't feel it's living up to its potential as a platform for free speech.
In recent weeks, he has voiced a number of proposed changes for the company, from relaxing its content restrictions such as the rules that suspended former President Donald Trump's account to ridding the platform of its problems with fake and automated accounts.
Musk is the world's wealthiest person, according to Forbes, with a nearly USD 279 billion fortune. But much of his money is tied up in Tesla stock he owns about 17 per cent of the company, according to FactSet, which is valued at more than USD 1 trillion and SpaceX, his privately held space company. It's unclear how much cash Musk has.
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Mohanlal, Shah Rukh, Rani Mukerji, Vikrant Massey conferred National Awards
New Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI): President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday conferred National Awards for acting to Shah Rukh Khan, Vikrant Massey and Rani Mukerji while Malayalam superstar Mohanlal was honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke lifetime achievement award in a ceremony that doffed its hat to mainstream popular cinema.
Filmmakers Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who took home the best film prize for "12th Fail", and Karan Johar and Apoorva Mehra, who received the award for "Rocky Aur Rani Kii Kahaani" for best popular film providing wholesome entertainment, completed the starry ensemble at the 71st National Film Awards.
The best director award went to Sudipto Sen for "The Kerala Story".
The National Awards for 2023 were announced in August. It's the first National Award for friends and frequent collaborators Shah Rukh and Rani as well as for Vikrant. While Shah Rukh got it for his role in "Jawan", sharing his win with "12th Fail" star Vikrant, Rani bagged it for "Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway".
There were whistles and loud cheers as Rani and Shah Rukh went up to receive their awards at the traditionally sober ceremony. Mohanlal, recognised for a remarkable career spanning five decades and more than 360 films, got a standing ovation from the crowd gathered at the city's Vigyan Bhawan.
"I got to know that when Mohanlal's name was announced for Dadasaheb Phalke, there was wave of happiness among people. It shows that he has made a space for himself in countless people's heart," the president said in her address after the award ceremony.
"He has presented the softest of the soft and toughest of the tough emotions quite naturally," Murmu added in a speech in which she congratulated all the winners and touched on various issues, including the plurarity of Indian cinema, Indian sensibility and women-centric films.
"Now we see women in many places in cinema like actors and producers. I have seen films about mothers, women uniting against societal wrongs, and strong women who raise their voices. I salute these filmmakers on behalf of sisters and daughters.
Please thank your crews for your success, they are behind it,' she said.
Just like Indian literature is created in various Indian languages, the president said, Indian cinema is advancing in so many languages, dialects, regions and local environments.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw spoke of the Make in India initiative of the government.
"Equipment used in the film industry such as big cameras... should be made in India. We will be started a programme on this soon," he said. The minister also stressed on the need to create a live concert economy with proper policy support, uniform guidelines and easy permissions.
As the recipient of the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke, Mohanlal was the only awardee who spoke.
He said he was deeply humbled to be the youngest recipient, and "only the second ever" from the state to be bestowed with this national recognition.
"This moment is not mine alone. It belongs to the entire Malayalam cinema fraternity. I see this award as a collective tribute to our industry, legacy, creativity and resilience," added the 65-year-old movie legend known for landmark films such as “Iruvar”, “Vanaprastham”, “Pulimurugan” and “Drishyam”.
Hindi cinema dominated the awards in the main categories.
Among those presented awards were Meghna Gulzar and Ronnie Screwvala for the biopic on Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw "Sam Bahadur", the best film promoting national, social and environmental values.
Vaibhavi Merchant won the best choreography award for "Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani" song "Dhindhora Baaje". Shilpa Rao was named best female playback singer for "Jawan" track "Chaleya".
Sanya Malhotra-starrer "Kathal: A Jackfruit Mystery" was named the best Hindi film.
Regional movies were recognised in categories such as best supporting actor and actress and in technical segments.
The best supporting actor trophy was shared by Vijayaraghavan for Malayalam film "Pookalam" and Muthupettai Somu Bhaskar for Tamil film "Parking".
The best supporting actress honour went to Urvashi for the Malayalam movie "Ullozhokku" and Janki Bodiwala for Gujarati title "Vash". Both movies won best films in their respective language segments.
Ashish Bende bagged the award for best debut film of a director for Marathi film "Aatmapamphlet".
The best film in AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming & comic) went to Telugu film "Hanu-Man", which also won the best action direction award.
"Animal", another Hindi blockbuster of 2023, won awards for best sound design, best music director (background music) and a special mention for re-recording mixer.
The National Award for best screenplay was shared between Telugu movie "Baby" and Tamil film "Parking". "Baby" singer PVN S Rohit was recognised as the best male playback singer for the song "Premisthunna".
The best music director for songs went to G V Prakash for Tamil movie "Vaathi". Kasarla Shyam was named best lyricist for Telugu movie "Balagam" song 'Ooru Palleturu".
Deepak Kingrani was named best dialogue writer for the Manoj Bajpayee-fronted Hindi film "Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai". The best editing prize went to Malayalam title "Pookkaalam" and production design to another Malayalam movie "2018".
Sukriti Veni Bandreddi ("Gandhi Tatha Chettu"), Kabir Khandare ("Gypsy") and "Naal 2" cast members Treesha Thosar, Shrinivas Pokale, and Bhargav Jagtap were recognised in the best child artists category. "Naal 2" was also named best children's film.
In the language film categories, the winners were -- "Rongatapu 1982" (Assamese), "Deep Fridge" (Bengali), "Parking" (Tamil), "Kandeelu" (Kannada), "Shamchi Aai" (Marathi), "Puskara" (Odia), "Godday Godday Chaa" (Punjabi) and "Bhagavanth Kesari" (Telugu).
The winners for various non-feature categories were also announced with Hindi movie "Flowering Man" being named the best film, while the best documentary went to "God Vulture and Human". The best director award was bagged by Piyush Thakur for "The First Film" and the best script went to Chidananda Nayak's Kannada short film "Sunflowers were the First Ones to Know".
