Musk Submits Offer to Buy Twitter, Complete with Ultimatum
There have been plenty of people out there who’ve complained about the dwindling ethos of free speech on Twitter, and we can count eccentric billionaire Elon Musk among them.
Musk, the owner of both Tesla and SpaceX, has gone head-to-head with Twitter several times over the years, and has been been in hot water with the SEC over tweets of his own regarding his business dealings.
Now, just days after announcing that he was the company’s largest stakeholder, Musk appears ready to go all-in.
Elon Musk offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share in a filing published Thursday, saying the social media company needs to be transformed privately, a little over a week after revealing a 9.1% stake in the company. Musk’s offer values Twitter at about $43 billion.
“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk wrote in a letter sent to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor and disclosed in a securities filing.
Twitter shares were up about 4% Thursday morning after closing at $45.85 a share on Wednesday. Tesla’s stock dipped more than 3% on the news.
According to Musk, the social media company needs to go private because it can “neither thrive nor serve” free speech in its current state.
But, there was a catch. Or, rather, a threat.
“As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced,” he wrote. “My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”
Musk has promised to “unlock” Twitter’s full First Amendment potential should the sale go through.
