Twitter announces agreements with Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo for $2 billion in accelerated share repurchases

Twitter Inc. TWTR, -3.34% said Friday morning that it has entered into agreements with Morgan Stanley & Co. MS, -2.79% and Wells Fargo Bank WFC, -1.25% to conduct $2 billion in accelerated share repurchases. The company previously announced a day earlier that it would launch a $2 billion accelerated repurchase program as part of a new $4 billion overall buyback program. Through the accelerated share repurchase component, Twitter will prepay the $2 billion purchase price and initially receive about 37.8 shares of its common stock. The company expects that any remaining shares would be delivered by the end of its third quarter. The ultimate number of shares that Twitter buys back will depend on the volume-weighted average price of Twitter’s stock during the accelerated share repurchase, less a discount, according to a press release. “This significant buyback is an important demonstration of our conviction in our strategy and our commitment to delivering shareholder value through disciplined capital allocation,” Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal said in the release. Twitter will have about $2 billion of its new buyback authorization remaining after engaging in the accelerated share repurchases. Twitter shares were up 0.9% in premarket trading Friday after dipping 2.0% in Thursday’s session.