Twitter Acquisition: Social Media Firm Freeze Employees Stock Accounts In Anticipation Of Deal, Report Says

In an alert for its employees, the social media firm this week updated its employee FAQ page saying that they won't be able to access or trade shares from the Equity Award Center

Elon Musk's Twitter account displayed on a smartphone screen

Source : Getty

New Delhi: In a sign that the Twitter deal may get through, the social media firm has frozen equity award accounts for employees ahead of the deadline to close its deal with Elon Musk, reported news agency Reuters, citing Bloomberg report. In an alert for its employees, the social media firm this week updated its employee FAQ page saying that they won't be able to access or trade shares from the Equity Award Center, according to the report.

The move is "in anticipation of the closing of the pending acquisition of Twitter by an entity controlled by Elon Musk," according to the page, the report stated. As soon as the news was reported, Twitter stocks witnessed a rally of 1.8 per cent at $51.6, still lower than Musk's offer price of $54.2 per share.

Both companies have been directed by the Delaware court to close the $44 billion deal on October 28. The deal was first announced in April.

In July, Musk tried to walk away from the takeover agreement on discovering that Twitter had allegedly misled him about fake accounts, among other concerns. Musk's allegations were also partly pointed out by Twitter whistleblower Peiter "Mudge" Zatko that became public in August.

Earlier this month, Musk once again changed course saying he will proceed with the deal on original terms, following which a judge stopped the trial scheduled for this week.

Twitter's legal team also tried to investigate if the law firm Quinn Emanuel and lawyer Alex Spiro, leading the case for Musk, communicated with the whistleblower as early as May. The law firm in court filings has said its attorneys did not communicate with Zatko or his representatives.

Twitter uncovered an anonymous May 6 email to Spiro from "a former Exec at Twitter leading teams directly involving Trust & Safety/Content Moderation," according to court documents. The sender offered to communicate "via alternate means."

Zatko, who was head of Twitter security until he was fired in January, has said under oath he did not communicate with Musk or Musk's attorneys at Quinn Emanuel.