Twitter: Silver Lake To Make $1 Bln Investment; Board Authorizes $2 Bln Buyback

(RTTNews) - Twitter, Inc. (TWTR) announced Silver Lake has agreed to buy $1 billion in aggregate principal amount of the company's 0.375% Convertible Senior Notes due 2025. Egon Durban, co-CEO and managing partner of Silver Lake, will be appointed to the Twitter Board. As part of the partnership, Silver Lake and its professionals will collaborate with Twitter on various operational initiatives. Twitter will use the proceeds of the Silver Lake investment, as well as cash on hand, to buyback up to $2 billion of its own shares over time.

Twitter, Inc. also entered into a Cooperation Agreement with Elliott Management Corp. In connection with this, Jesse Cohn, partner at Elliott, will be appointed to the Twitter Board. Elliott and certain of its affiliates have also agreed to a customary standstill, voting and other provisions until one month before notices of director nominations are due in connection with the Twitter's 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

Twitter's Board will continue the process of identifying a third new independent director, focusing on candidates with deep technology and AI expertise. Also, the Board has formed an independent five-person committee to build on regular evaluation of the company's leadership. Pichette will be the Committee's chair. The Committee will conclude its work and share the results publicly before the end of the year.

Looking forward, Twitter said its ambition in 2020 and beyond is to grow mDAU at 20% or more. Beyond 2020, the company plans to accelerate revenue growth on a year-over-year basis and gain share in the digital advertising market.