Walt Disney Co said to have rekindled interest in buying Twitter; price agreed
Tuesday, 25 October 2016, 11:03 pm
Some rather juicy RARE has landed in my lap.
It's a pretty simple tale: Walt Disney Co is said to be closing in on a multi-billion dollar takeover of micro blogging site Twitter after both companies agreed on takeout price late last week.
Now, those readers who have been following this situation will be well aware that the market has been pretty suspect about the prospect of a takeover of Twitter following a series of reports that claimed Walt Disney, Salesforce and Alphabet Inc (also known as Google) had all dropped out of the rather public auction process.
But well informed types have got in touch to let me know Walt Disney Co and Twitter are now thrashing out a deal after agreeing a price - thought to be in the high 20s per share - at the back end of last week.
I don't have much more detail from that apart from being told investment bankers at Guggenheim and JP Morgan are advising Walt Disney Co on the potential transaction (which the market knew about already asBloomberg reported this previously) and the logic behind the deal is that Walt Disney will be able shove its content down Twitter to a huge new online audience. Apparently, Walt Disney & Co has also been working on this transaction for the last six months.
Twitter is expected to release some figures this week, so perhaps the market will be given the details about this Walt Disney deal then?
To be clear, this story is RARE! For readers unfamiliar with the RARE concept I will define it below.
Market gossip that hasn't been tested through formal journalistic channels (public relations executives, bankers etc). The rumour might be total codswallop but then again there may be something in it, so it's worth airing on Betaville.
I have asked both Twitter and Walt Disney Co for an official comment. Twitter hasn't responded to my emailed request for comment and I'm still waiting for the Walt Disney & Co's spokesperson I have been communicating with to come up with a proper response. If and when both companies get in touch with an official comment I'm happy to add their comments to the story. I suspect, though, it will be a long wait...