After initially rejecting Elon Musk’s bid to buy out the company, Twitter’s board has now agreed to a takeover from the Tesla billionaire, at the hefty sum of US $44 billion. After the news was announced, Twitter shares rose 6 per cent.
Musk made the bid two weeks ago after buying a 9.2 per cent stake in the company, with a desire to make it private. After coming to an agreement with Musk to purchase the company, the board of Twitter now awaits a shareholder vote to approve the deal.
Musk, who has an estimated net worth of US$273.6 billion, has advocated for free speech and says he is the right person to “unlock” the social media company’s “extraordinary potential.”
“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,” he said in a statement announcing the deal.
“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.”
🚀💫♥️ Yesss!!! ♥️💫🚀 pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
Twitter’s board says they have gone through a “comprehensive process” to assess Musk’s bid.
“The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders,” he said.
