Posted by San Francisco, USA: Tesla CEO and SpaceX’s founder Elon Musk to acquire Twitter for $44 billion. The microblogging platform Twitter accepted the sale offer from billionaire businessman Musk on Monday.
Twitter on Monday said it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk, for approximately $44 billion in a cash transaction. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.
This comes a few weeks after Musk had proposed an offer to Twitter Board to acquire the social media company for $44 billion. Initially, Twitter Board initially rejected this unsolicited bid from Tesla CEO Musk.
Elon Musk to acquire Twitter
Following the deal, Twitter stockholders will get $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing of the proposed transaction. The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter’s closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before Elon Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter.
“The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders,” said Bret Taylor, Twitter’s Independent Board Chair.
“Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important,” said Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CEO.
Free speech
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” said Elon Musk.
“I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it,” added Musk.
Early on April 4, Musk acquired around 9.2% stock in Twitter, which made him the largest shareholder in the company. The following day April 5, Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal tweeted that Twitter is appointing Musk as a board member. But five days later on April 10, Agarwal announced on Twitter that Musk will not be joining the Twitter Board.
After turning down the offer to join Twitter Board, Musk made a counteroffer to buy the entire company for $43 billion. He filled the offer with US SEC on April 14 and tweeted.
(Image credit- GCC )