Twitter looks set to turn itself over to Elon Musk imminently after the Tesla and SpaceX chief stumped up $46.5bn in financing to take the social media site private but how does it compare to the largest M&A deals in history?

Musk, touted as the world's richest person by Forbes with a net worth of $219bn, has agreed deals with Morgan Stanley and other lenders for $13bn in debt financing, plus another $12.5bn in loans against his stock in Tesla, and he will cover the remaining $21bn in cash.

Twitter, for its part, will accept the deal, worth $54.20 per share, after appearing reluctant to engage with Musk, using a "poison pill" tactic to flood the market with new shares and dilute Musk's stake in the company, which he has been acquiring shares in since earlier this year.

Twitter has proven far more difficult to monetise and make profitable than other social media giants such as Facebook and Instagram, but the company had set goals to increase daily active users to 315m and double annual revenues to $7.5bn by 2023.

By comparison, Facebook and Instagram parent Meta actually brought in $115bn last year, and Musk has said he wants to "unlock" Twitter's "extraordinary potential" by taking over the company.

In Association with

"I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy," Musk said in his offer letter to Twitter.

"However, since making my investment I now [realise] the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company."

Reports of a deal being imminent appear to suggest that Twitter is not confident of reaching its loft usage and revenue targets, but can Musk -- who follows Facebook, Google, Apple, Disney and Salesforce in kicking the tyres on Twitter -- turn it into a winner? He and his backers will be paying a lot of money for the privilege of finding out.

Verizon and Voadafone

Verizon and Vodafone shared the risk in launching Verizon Wireless, the telecoms giant's mobile operator, and ran it together for 14 years before Vodafone agree a cash and stock deal worth $130bn, giving complete ownership to Verizon.

Heinz and Kraft

The Kraft Heinz Company merger brought together to of America's largest food companies to create one of the world's 10 largest food groups in a deal believed to have cost approximately $100bn, although it has not turned out as well as expected.

Pfizer and Warner-Lambert

pharmaceutical giant Pfizer acquired its rival for $90bn in 2000 after consumer goods firm American Home Products pulled out of a deal to buy Warner-Lambert, resulting in large break-up frees. The deal created the second-largest drug company in the US and gave Pfizer control of the profits for the drug Lipitor, amounting to $13bn per year.

AT&T and Time Warner

AT&T merged with Time Warner, the parent of Warner Bros and HBO, in 2016 for a reported $85.4bn, although the mobile company has since divested, selling the renamed Warner Media to Discovery, which quickly shuttered the CNN+ streaming service.

Exxon and Mobil

US oil producers Exxon and Mobile merged in an $80bn deal in 1998 and have seen share prices increase 293% since then, making it one of the most successful in history.

Google and Android

The search and internet giant bought a little know mobile technology called Android for $50m in 2005, giving it the tools it required to rival Apple in the smartphone stakes, with Android now accounting for 47% of smartphones in the US and around two-thirds in Ireland.

Disney and Fox

Disney had been on a run of acquisitions before former CEO Bob Iger left his roles in early 2020, most notably acquiring Fox's film and television assets for around $66bn in 2016 after making big-money deals to bring the likes of Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm into the Disney fold.

Photo: Elon Musk's Twitter profile displayed on a computer screen and Twitter logo displayed on a phone screen are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on April 9, 2022. (Pic: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)