Elon Musk has offered to buy 100% of Twitter as he pledges to make it “the Platform for Free Speech around the Globe.”
Musk has revolutionized electronic payments, space travel, electric cars, and batteries, and now wants to protect the one thing more valuable than all the money he has made in his career, free speech, and free expression.
Musk wrote in a letter to Bret Taylor, chairman of Twitter’s board of directors, that was included in the SEC filing: “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.
“However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.
“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.
“My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.
“Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it,” he wrote.
JUST IN – Elon Musk has made an offer to buy Twitter and says the platform needs to be transformed into a private business to thrive again. pic.twitter.com/pXvFnzXSm5
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 14, 2022
MORE – In the past, many on Twitter used to say “it’s a private company, they can do whatever they want.” Elon Musk now seems to take this saying to the next level.
SEC filing: https://t.co/UuMy1jpAgc
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) April 14, 2022
BREAKING: Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash https://t.co/7wc3r4s7kG pic.twitter.com/sJcxjUOs9O
— Bloomberg (@business) April 14, 2022
From CNBC:
Twitter shares jumped 12% in premarket trading after closing at $45.85 a share on Wednesday.
Musk first revealed a 9.2% stake in the social media giant earlier this month, in a move that sent shares closing up 27%.
The company also announced that Musk would join its board of directors, but he later abandoned those plans.
From The Daily Mail:
By accepting the board seat, Musk was limited in how much of the company’s shares he could own, with a 14.9 percent cap. However, on Sunday Parag announced the SpaceX CEO formally declined his board seat.
Musk, 50, signed the new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Monday indicating he had declined his board seat.
The document stated Musk could ‘express his views’ about Twitter’s policies and services to the board or on social media. He could also purchase additional shares or sell Twitter stock, if he saw fit.
