 Image Credit: Dado Ruvić | Reuters Twitter’s board of directors has accepted Elon Musk’s takeover offer for the company. The social media platform announced it has entered a "definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned" by the Tesla CEO for $54.20 a share in a deal valued at about $44B. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company. More: - Twitter shares were halted briefly from trading on Monday afternoon.
- The purchase price per share is an 11% premium on Twitter’s closing price on Friday and a 38% premium on the company’s close price on April 1, 2022, the day before Musk disclosed his ~9% stake in Twitter.
- The deal is expected to close this year, subject to the approval of Twitter shareholders and other regulatory approvals.
- Twitter is scheduled to release its Q1 2022 earnings on April 28 but has canceled the corresponding conference call.
Zoom out: - Earlier this month, Musk disclosed he made a $43B offer to buy 100% of Twitter after declining a Twitter board seat.
- Last week, Musk disclosed that he is exploring a tender offer for Twitter and had secured $46.5B in financing for the potential deal.
- The financial package included $25.5B in debt through Morgan Stanley and others and $21B from himself in equity financing.
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Private equity firm KKR announced it has raised $19B for its flagship North America private equity fund. The fund called KKR North America Fund XIII is its largest ever. It will invest in various business sectors, including media, retail, financial services, healthcare, and telecommunications, primarily in the U.S. and Canada. More: - KKR North America Fund XIII is the first fund raised by Pete Stavros and Nate Taylor, who were named co-leads in 2019 for the firm’s private equity business in the Americas.
- The fund includes $2B invested by its employees, affiliates, and from the firm’s balance sheet.
- The firm’s prior fund, KKR Americas XII Fund, which raised $13.9B from investors in 2017, had a net internal rate of return of 41.9% as of Dec 2021.
- KKR's Americas PE arm has over $90B in assets under management.
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 Image Credit: Call of Duty Video game maker Activision Blizzard released its Q1 2022 earnings on Monday, missing analysts’ expectations on sales. The company reported GAAP net revenues of $1.77B, down 22% YoY. The company cited low demand for its games “Call of Duty: Vanguard” and “Call of Duty: Warzone.” More: - Net income came in at $395M or 50 cents a share, down 36% YoY.
- In January, the company announced it would be acquired by Microsoft for $95 a share in a deal valued at $68.7B.
- The company has also faced criticism over its response to allegations of internal sexual harassment and discrimination against its female employees.
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Blackstone has agreed to buy real estate investment firm PS Business Parks for $7.6B. The acquisition marks Blackstone's latest investment in real estate; last week, the firm announced it was buying student housing operator American Campus Communities for $12.8B. PS Business Parks owns and operates industrial and low-rise suburban offices and business parks. More: - PS Business Parks owns about 96 properties with 4,900 tenants and 800 residential units, mainly in California, Florida, Northern Virginia, and Texas.
- Blackstone will pay $187.50 a share for PS Business Parks, a ~12% premium on the company’s closing price on Friday.
- The deal is expected to close in Q3 2022.
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Investors and corporations are at odds over the SEC’s proposed "beneficial ownership" rules. The new rules are part of larger changes the SEC has proposed under chair Gary Gensler in the last few months. The comment period for the proposed new rules closed this month, revealing a big difference in opinion between the investment community and big businesses. More: - Some of the changes proposed by the SEC include shortening the 10-day window to five days for U.S. investors to disclose when they have taken a 5% or more stake in a company.
- The rules would also broaden the definition of an investor “group” required to make the additional disclosures.
- Investors with smaller holdings will also have to declare their positions if they are deemed to be working with a group with a combined ownership of 5% or more.
- Big corporations have applauded the proposed changes, saying they would bring more transparency and help maintain fair and efficient markets.
- Members of the investment community have criticized the proposals, saying they would strike at the heart of their business and allow predatory traders to profit from the work of fund managers.
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 Coke brands | Image Credit: SM Insight Coca-Cola released its Q1 2022 earnings on Monday, beating analysts’ expectations across the board. The beverage company reported $10.5B in net revenues, up 16% YoY. Net income attributable to shareowners was $2.78B, or 64 cents a share, up ~24% YoY. Organic sales rose 18% YoY. More: - Unit case volume, calculated based on average daily sales, rose 8%, with broad-based growth across all operating segments.
- Price/mix, which includes price increases across its products, grew 7%.
- On March 8, Coke suspended its operations in Russia due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Coke said it expects to take a 1% to 2% hit on revenue and operating income due to suspension.
- The company also expects a 1 % impact on unit case volume and a 4 cents impact on comparable EPS.
- Coke maintained its 2022 full-year outlook; it expects 7% to 8% organic revenue growth.
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- Incumbent president Emmanuel Macron won the French presidential election with 58.5% of the vote, defeating far-right rival Marine Le Pen.
- A New York judge held former President Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to comply with a subpoena for business documents. Trump will have to pay $10,000 per day that he fails to comply with the subpoena.
- General Motors announced it would produce an electrified Chevrolet Corvette next year, followed by an all-electric version of the car. The company did not provide details on when the all-electric version of the vehicle would be released.
- Meta (Facebook) will open its first physical retail store on May 9. The store will be located at its Burlingame, California, campus, and showcase Meta’s hardware products, including its VR headsets.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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