Just weeks after buying a 9% stake, Elon Musk won his battle to take over Twitter.
On April 25, Twitter’s board of directors announced the sale of the company to Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, for approximately $44 billion in cash. The deal values each Twitter share, which traded at $51.60 when it was halted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, at $54.20.
Musk is the world’s richest man, according to Forbes, with an estimated net worth of $268 billion.
“The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing,” Twitter board chair Bret Taylor said in a press release. “The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”
Upon the completion of the purchase, Musk will take Twitter private.
Musk cites “free speech” again
Musk, a prolific user whose posts on the platform have caused trouble with securities regulators, has campaigned to buy Twitter on a platform of promoting so-called free speech. He believes the current management, until recently led by co-founder Jack Dorsey and now helmed by CEO Parag Agrawal, is too censorious.
“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,” Musk said in a press release. “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.”