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Twitter has accepted Elon Musk's offer to buy the social media service in a deal worth about $44 billion.
推特接受了埃隆·马斯克提出的收购这家社交媒体服务公司的要约，收购价格约440亿美元。
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.
特斯拉和太空探索技术公司的负责人、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.
本周，推特董事会投票决定接受马斯克的收购要约。
The deal could be finalized sometime this year.
可能会在今年某个时候最终确定协议。
But it still has to be approved by Twitter shareholders, as well as regulatory agencies in the United States and other nations where Twitter does business.
但它仍然需要得到推特股东、美国及其他涉及推特业务的国家的监管机构的批准。
Shortly after receiving Musk's proposal, Twitter's board established an anti-takeover position known as a "poison pill."
在收到马斯克的提议后不久，推特董事会就设立了反收购立场，即“毒丸计划”。
A poison pill is a financial tool used by companies to block unwelcome takeover attempts.
毒丸计划是公司用来阻止不受欢迎的收购企图的一种金融工具。
A poison pill is generally designed to limit the number of shares that can be bought by a single investor.
毒丸计划通常旨在限制单个投资者可以购买的股票数量。
Companies permit existing shareholders to buy additional stock at a reduced rate.
公司允许现有股东以较低的利率购买额外的股票。
This method can flood the market with so many newly issued shares that a company takeover becomes too costly.
这种方法可能会让大量新股充斥市场，以使收购一家公司的价格变得过高。
However, poison pills can also be used to improve a company's negotiating position in a takeover deal.
然而，毒丸计划也可以用来提高公司在收购交易中的谈判地位。
Or they can invite additional offers for more money.
或者他们可以吸引更多的报价，以获得更多的钱。
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.
据路透社报道，在推特的案例中，毒丸计划似乎是为了防止马斯克在没有与推特的董事会谈判的情况下将其在该公司的现有股份提高到15%以上。
Musk answered that position by offering detailed information about his financing plans.
马斯克就这一情况做出了回应，提供了有关他的融资计划的详细信息。
These plans showed that he successfully raised $46.5 billion to finance his offer.
这些计划显示，他为收购推特成功筹资465亿美元。
The amount included $21 billion of Musk's personal wealth.
其中包括马斯克210亿美元的个人财富。
Musk has been declared the world's richest person by Forbes magazine.
近日，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.
业内专家表示，融资计划表明了马斯克对自己提出的报价的认真程度。
And it may have opened the door to other large Twitter shareholders interested in hearing more about his plans for the company.
这可能也给了其他有兴趣了解更多有关他对推特的计划的大股东机会。
John Meyer is a technology expert and investor.
约翰·迈耶是一位技术专家和投资者。
He told The Associated Press he thinks there is "nothing better for Twitter than Elon Musk buying it…"
他告诉美联社，他认为“对推特来说，没有什么比埃隆·马斯克收购它更好的计划了。”
Meyer said he expects Musk to replace Twitter's current board, invest in new products and find new ways to improve profits.
迈耶表示，他预计马斯克将会更换推特目前的董事会，投资新产品，并找到提高利润的新方法。
"Musk has the track record that he can do the impossible," Meyer said.
迈耶说：“马斯克的过往记录表明，他能做不可能的事。”
Government regulators, both in the U.S. and the European Union, are likely to examine the proposed Twitter deal.
美国和欧盟的政府监管机构可能会审查拟议中的推特交易。
The main issues to be considered are how the deal could affect competition in the industry and whether it violates antitrust laws.
需要考虑的主要问题是，这笔交易可能会如何影响该行业的竞争，以及它是否违反了反垄断法。
Twitter shareholders also need to approve the deal.
推特股东也需要批准这笔交易。
A company can choose to hold a vote at any time, even before regulators have completed their examinations.
公司可以选择随时进行投票，甚至在监管机构完成审查之前也是如此。
Twitter's yearly meeting is set for May 25, so it is possible the vote could happen then.
推特的年度会议定在5月25日举行，因此可能会在那时进行投票。
In the past, Musk has been critical of some of Twitter's policies related to free speech issues.
过去，马斯克一直批评推特有关言论自由问题的一些政策。
Since seeking to take control of the company, he has promised to "improve and fix" Twitter and make it "better than ever."
自从他试图接管该公司以来，他承诺要“改进和修复”推特，让它“比以往任何时候都更好”。
This includes his stated plans to take steps to ensure free speech for all individuals.
这包括他已经宣布的计划，即采取措施确保所有个人的言论自由。
But he has not provided many details on those plans.
但他没有提供这些计划的更多细节。
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.
一些业内专家担心，马斯克希望建立一个不受限制的言论自由平台，这可能会导致更多错误信息和仇恨言论出现在推特上。
Current Twitter policies against such content can result in users being restricted or banned from the service.
目前推特针对此类内容的政策可能会导致用户被限制或禁止使用该服务。
Michael Nathanson is an analyst at stock research company MoffettNathanson.
迈克尔·内桑森是股票研究公司MoffettNathanson的分析师。
He told Reuters that possible attempts by Musk to ease content restrictions could turn advertisers away.
他告诉路透社，马斯克可能放松内容限制的尝试可能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.
内桑森说：“我们预计，如果埃隆·马斯克为了促进言论自由而取消内容限制，广告商将不太愿意投资推特。”
If that happens, he added, advertisers on Twitter may move to platforms like Google, YouTube, TikTok or others.
他还说，如果发生这种情况，推特的广告商可能会转向谷歌、YouTube、TikTok等平台。
I'm Bryan Lynn.
布莱恩·林恩为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
