Musks $44 billion buyout of Twitter faces FTC antitrust review -report

Reuters – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission FTC is reviewing Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musks 44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing a person familiar with the deal.

The FTC declined comment, while Musk could not be reached for comment.

The agency will decide in the next month whether it will do an indepth antitrust probe of the proposed transaction, the person told Bloomberg. Such a probe would delay the deals closing by months.

Antitrust experts have said there is little likelihood the agency will find any evidence that Musks purchase of Twitter is illegal under antitrust law.

The FTC is already investigating Musks initial purchase of a 9 stake in Twitter, probing whether he complied with an antitrust reporting requirement when he acquired the shares in early April.

The deal has the support of Republicans, who hope conservatives banned from the site will be allowed to return.

While Musk has tweeted about free speech, when he discusses plans for Twitter he focuses more on helping revenues by getting more people to use it or cutting such expenses as executive pay. He has said nothing publicly about allowing banned former users to return.