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Twitter has accepted Elon Musk¹'s offer to buy the social media service in a deal worth about $44 billion. Musk – the American billionaire who heads Tesla and SpaceX – has said his goal is to shape Twitter into a more welcoming platform for free speech.

推特接受了马斯克提出的大约440亿美元收购这家社交媒体的提议。领导特斯拉和SpaceX公司的美国亿万富翁马斯克表示，他的目标是将推特塑造成一个更受欢迎的言论自由平台。

Twitter's board of directors voted this week to accept Musk's takeover offer. The deal could be finalized² sometime this year. But it still has to be approved by Twitter shareholders³, as well as regulatory agencies in the United States and other nations where Twitter does business.

推特董事会本周投票接受了马斯克的收购要约。这笔交易可能会在今年某个时间敲定。但它仍需得到推特股东、美国以及推特有开展业务的其它国家监管机构的批准。

How did the deal happen?

这笔交易是如何发生的？

Shortly after receiving Musk's proposal, Twitter's board established an anti-takeover position known as a "poison pill." A poison pill is a financial tool used by companies to block unwelcome takeover attempts.

在收到马斯克的收购提议后，推特董事会确立了被称为“毒丸”的反收购立场。毒丸是公司用来阻止不受欢迎的收购尝试的金融工具。

A poison pill is generally designed to limit the number of shares that can be bought by a single investor⁴. Companies permit existing shareholders to buy additional stock at a reduced rate. This method can flood the market with so many newly issued shares that a company takeover becomes too costly⁵.

毒丸通常旨在限制单个投资者可以购买的股票数量。公司允许现有股东以较低价格购买额外股票。这种方法可以让大量新发行的股票涌入市场，导致公司收购成本太高。

However, poison pills can also be used to improve a company's negotiating position in a takeover deal. Or they can invite additional offers for more money. In Twitter's case, the poison pill seemed designed to prevent Musk from raising his existing share in the company above 15 percent without negotiating a deal with its board, Reuters news agency reported.

然而，毒丸也可以用来提高公司在收购交易中的谈判地位。或者他们可以招致额外报价以卖出更多钱。据路透社报道，在推特的案例中，毒丸似乎旨在防止马斯克在未与董事会协商达成协议的情况下，将其在公司的现有股份提高到15%以上。

Musk answered that position by offering detailed⁶ information about his financing plans. These plans showed that he successfully raised $46.5 billion to finance his offer. The amount included $21 billion of Musk's personal wealth. Musk has been declared the world's richest person by Forbes magazine.

马斯克通过提供有关融资计划的详情回应了这一立场。这些计划表明，他成功筹集了465亿美元以资助他的收购提议。其中包括马斯克210亿美元的个人财富。马斯克被福布斯杂志评为全球首富。

Industry experts say the financing plan showed how serious Musk was about his offer. And it may have opened the door to other large Twitter shareholders interested in hearing more about his plans for the company.

业内专家表示，融资计划表明了马斯克对其收购提议的认真态度。它可能为其他有兴趣听取更多关于他的公司计划的推特大股东打开了大门。

John Meyer is a technology expert and investor. He told The Associated Press he thinks there is "nothing better for Twitter than Elon Musk buying it..." Meyer said he expects Musk to replace Twitter's current board, invest in new products and find new ways to improve profits.

约翰·梅耶是一位技术专家和投资者。他告诉美联社，他认为对推特来说，没有什么比马斯克收购更好。梅耶说，他希望马斯克能够取代推特现有董事会，投资新产品并找到提高利润的新渠道。

"Musk has the track record that he can do the impossible," Meyer said.

梅耶表示：“马斯克有着无所不能的业绩记录。”

What approvals are needed?

需要哪些审批？

Government regulators, both in the U.S. and the European Union, are likely to examine the proposed Twitter deal. The main issues to be considered are how the deal could affect competition in the industry and whether it violates antitrust laws.

美国和欧盟的政府监管机构可能会审查这笔拟议中的推特交易。需要考虑的主要问题是这笔交易会如何影响行业竞争，以及是否违反反垄断法。

Twitter shareholders also need to approve the deal. A company can choose to hold a vote at any time, even before regulators have completed their examinations. Twitter's yearly meeting is set for May 25, so it is possible the vote could happen then.

推特股东还需要批准这笔交易。公司可以随时选择进行投票，甚至在在监管机构完成审查之前。推特的年度会议定于5月25日召开，届时可能会举行投票。

需要哪些审批？

Free speech issues

言论自由问题

In the past, Musk has been critical of some of Twitter's policies related to free speech issues. Since seeking to take control of the company, he has promised to "improve and fix" Twitter and make it "better than ever." This includes his stated plans to take steps to ensure free speech for all individuals. But he has not provided many details on those plans.

过去，马斯克一直批评推特与言论问题相关的一些政策。自从寻求控制这家公司以来，他承诺改进和修复推特，使其比以往任何时候都更好。这包括他声明计划采取措施确保所有人的言论自由。但他没有提供这些计划的诸多细节。

Some industry experts fear Musk's desire to establish a free speech platform without limits could lead to more misinformation and hate speech appearing on Twitter. Current Twitter policies against such content can result in users being restricted or banned from the service.

一些行业专家担心，马斯克想要建立一个不受限制的言论自由平台的愿望，可能会导致推特上出现更多的错误信息和仇恨言论。推特目前针对此类内容的政策可能会导致用户被限制或禁止使用推特。

Michael Nathanson is an analyst⁷ at stock research company MoffettNathanson. He told Reuters that possible attempts by Musk to ease content restrictions⁸ could turn advertisers away.

马克尔·内桑森是股票研究公司MoffettNathanson的分析师。他对路透社表示，马斯克放松内容限制的可能尝试也许会让广告商望而却步。

"We expect advertisers will be less willing to spend on Twitter if Elon Musk removes content moderation in order to promote free speech," Nathanson said. If that happens, he added, advertisers on Twitter may move to platforms like Google, YouTube, TikTok or others.

内桑森表示：“我们预计如果马斯克取消内容审核以促进言论自由，广告商会不愿意在推特上投钱。”他还表示，如果发生这种情况，推特上的广告商可能会转向谷歌、YouTube、Tiktok等平台。