This brings one of the most richest man to control the internet's most influential platform.
The Twitter's board of directors unanimously agreed to Musk's offer to purchase the social media platform at a price of $44 billion, the company announced Monday.
“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 statement posted to Twitter. “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.”
This brings one of the most richest man to control the internet's most influential platform. Musk, a prolific Twitter user, has repeatedly decried efforts to moderate speech on the service.
Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock once the transaction closes. It's a 38 percent premium to Twitter’s closing stock price on April 1 — the last trading day before Musk disclosed his approximately 9 percent 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,” said Twitter board chair Bret Taylor in a statement. “The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”
It first revealed in early April that Musk had acquired a 9 percent stake in Twitter, it made him one of the biggest company's shareholders. On April 20, Musk filed a securities document showing he had obtained financing agreements worth $46.5 billion from a group of banks led by Morgan Stanley to complete a potential transaction. That may have put pressure on Twitter’s board to more seriously consider Musk's bid.
Twitter shares had lost some 17 percent of their value, during the time of CEO Parag Agrawal was announced as the social media platform's newest chief intill now since musk outsized ownership stake. Jack Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter celebrated the move, saying that the company "has been owned by Wall Street and the ad model and taking it back is correct first step."
"Do not allow Twitter to become a petri dish for hate speech, or falsehoods that subvert our democracy," Johnson said in part. "Protecting our democracy is of utmost importance, especially as the midterm elections approach. Mr. Musk: lives are at risk, and so is American democracy.”
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